News

  • Ask Advisor Septemberoctober 2017

    This week, lawmakers remained in their home states and districts for a week-long recess. They are scheduled to be back in Washington on Monday, May 7th. In the meantime, many Members of Congress will be attending local events and hosting town hall meetings. .Laws prohibit Social Security officials from saying how much the agency paid Cummings who is now serving a 10-year prison sentence for raping and molesting a 3-year-old girl. Based on the maximum levels in effect during the months he was at large, the 27-year-old Cummings could have received as much as ,556. .I recently received an email with a link to a "Tax Loophole for Illegals" video claiming that the IRS had paid over billion in Child Tax refunds to illegal immigrants. Is this an Internet rumor? How can our government give away billions to illegals, when they don't pay any taxes? … Continued

  • The Advisor Volume 16 June 2011 Part 1

    They claim that a "Buy American" order could raise domestic drug prices, since both labor and materials are much more expensive in the U.S. — which could cut against one of The President's signature health care planks going into the November election. .The Senior Citizens League has prepared a new fact sheet to help the public better understand how immigration changes by executive action may affect Social Security and Medicare. Get it here. .If all this sounds complicated — it is. But comparing these costs is well worth the effort. Depending on what you have now, Medicare may wind up saving you a considerable sum, and provide lower deductibles than what you get through your employer. This decision is important to get right, especially if you are married and your spouse is also getting health insurance through your employer's plan. If so, caution is advised because your decision affects your spouse's coverage. … Continued

Republicans Sweep Tuesday's Elections .Can Home Health Agencies Provide Rebates? .TSCL will be keeping a close eye on the budget discussions in the weeks ahead since a government shutdown could impact the Social Security and Medicare programs negatively. We will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website, or over on our Facebook page. ."That estimate tracks closely with the CPI data through August," Johnson says. "Overall inflation readings are very low, but that's almost entirely due to the dramatic drop in oil prices again this year," she notes. Meanwhile, the data show some big jumps in the cost of goods and services that older and disabled Americans use the most. But that won't necessarily translate into higher COLAs, because the index used to calculate the annual Social Security boost is based on the spending patterns of younger working adults. Younger people tend to spend less on health care and housing, and more on gasoline and electronics, two categories that have gone down in recent years. .The definition of disability under Social Security is different from other programs. Social Security only pays benefits for total disability, and none are paid for partial or a short-term disability. To determine if your husband is disabled, the Social Security Administration will examine the following: ."Addressing our fiscal challenges will require many tough choices and policy changes—but switching to the chained CPI represents neither. Such a change offers policy makers the rare opportunity to achieve significant savings spread across the entire budget by making a technical improvement to existing policies. As such, across-the-board adoption of the chained CPI should be at the top of the list for any deficit reduction plan or down payment." .For more information see the Medicare publication, "Are You a Hospital Inpatient or Outpatient?" CMS Product No. 1143Get a copy online at www.Medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE ( 7). .Four Things To Avoid When Shopping For Retirement Housing .TSCL believes the regulations could be costly to seniors and to Medicare. Alternative therapy and medical approaches are used by millions of Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated, that the U.S. public spent between billion to billion on CAM therapies in 1997, an amount that was more than the U.S. public paid out-of-pocket for all hospitalizations in that year, and an amount that was approximately one-half of that paid by the U.S. public for all out-of-pocket physicians' services.