Rep Gibson (NY-20) Challenged by Constituents

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New bill offers $20,000 subsidy to foreclosure buyers

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) plans to introduce a bill after the August recess that would give homebuyers up to $20,000 for down payment assistance on a previously foreclosed property.

Ackerman calls it the Homestead Act 2, modeled after the original law signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. That bill awarded Union Army veterans the ability to file an application and claim up to 160 acres of government land. For the next five years, the homesteader was required to improve the land building a home and growing crops.

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Medicare says competitive pricing will save $28B

Medicare is dramatically expanding a program that it says will save billion of dollars and serve as a model for other cost-cutting efforts.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday announced the second round of a program that uses competitive bidding to set prices for certain medical products. Medicare now uses competitive bidding in nine cities and will expand to 91 areas, according to the Friday announcement.

In its first six months, the nine-city competitive bidding program has saved roughly $130 million, CMS officials said. The agency expects to save $28 billion over the next 10 years, roughly a third of which would be savings to patients.

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