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    Background Information: Roughly 56% of older taxpaying households paid income taxes on a portion of their Social Security benefits this year, even though many of them only made twice the federal poverty level in income. Question: Do you believe this is fair, and if not, what should be done about it? .With respect to cookies: The Senior Citizens League uses cookies to record session information, such as items that visitors add to their shopping cart. .There is widespread support among older Americans for a benefit boost. TSCL surveys have found that 83% of survey participants think Congress should increase Social Security benefits by about 2% of the average benefit, roughly per month (0) in 202Sixty-two percent of survey participants also favor a more generous annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) by tying the annual inflation adjustment to the Consumer-Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), and 50% favor enacting a guarantee that COLAs would never be lower than 3%. … Continued

  • Medicare Costs Too High Three Medicare Proposals That Would Make You Pay Even More

    Drug Executives Refuse to meet with Trump .According to the Center for Public Integrity, one of the nation's oldest nonpartisan investigative news services, home visits have risen sharply at many Medicare Advantage health plans. While visiting nurses and doctors don't offer any treatment during these visits, they do report exam findings to the patient's primary care doctor. Insurers say the free annual physicals offer a new benefit to help certain health plan enrollees stay fit and in their homes as long as possible. But critics, including some Members of Congress, are concerned the visits may be padding Medicare's bill. .Republicans Sweep Tuesday's Elections … Continued

There are, however, a number of ways that unauthorized workers can, and do, become entitled to benefits based on illegal work (see our "FAHow "Undocumented" Workers Are Becoming Entitled To Social Security" from the May 2012, Volume 17, Number 4 issue of The Social Security & Medicare Advisor. Despite a 2004 law forbidding illegals from claiming Social Security benefits, they are able to do so if at some point their status changes and they receive work authorization — as would happen under an amnesty. With work authorization, noncitizens can file a claim for Social Security benefits. Under current law when determining entitlement for benefits, Social Security uses all earnings for calculating the primary benefit amount, even if the earnings were for unauthorized work using fraudulent documents. All the individual needs to do is to supply evidence of the earnings, such as old W2s, and earnings in the ESF file would be "reinstated" to the account of the claimant. .In the latest issue of Best Ways to Save, retirees, and those nearing retirement learn: .How Much Would Delaying Retirement After Full Retirement Age Increase My Benefit? .TSCL supports legislation that would raise the taxable maximum. "TSCL believes that cutting Social Security benefits can't be justified when moderate payroll tax adjustments can keep the system solvent for decades," says TSCL Executive Director Shannon Benton. "Requiring everyone to pay their full share would add years of solvency to the Social Security," Benton says. .A Census Bureau poll of how households are handling their medical needs during Covid-related closures and stay-at-home orders found that millions are going without care. In the last four weeks to June 9 an estimated 87.7 million people across the nation delayed getting care, while nearly 71 million needed it for something unrelated to Covid-19, but did not get it, .TSCL Tells Congress —"Leave Social Security and Medicare out of Budget Negotiations" .Our next issue of interest this week is Surprise Billing. Surprise billing does not affect seniors on Medicare as much as it affects seniors under age 65 who still have health insurance through their employer or who are paying for their own health insurance. Surprise billing usually refers to expensive, unexpected medical bills that patients receive from hospitals and doctors' offices even when they have health insurance that they expect will cover the majority of treatments cost. Congress has been getting an earful from voters who are very upset about this situation and there seemed to be a fair amount of optimism that legislation dealing with surprise billing may be able to pass. If it does, there could be an effort to attach legislation dealing with drug prices to that bill. .Catastrophic coverage stage (if you spend a total of more than ,100 counting all your prescriptions): .15 .The overpayment amount that the Social Security Administration is claiming in your case may be due to several reasons. Here are some things that may affect you: