News

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending June 22 2012

    The House recently passed legislation the FAIR Act (H.R. 1423, S.610) that would prohibit mandatory arbitration agreements in employment, consumer, and other contracts. Legal advocates who work on behalf of older adults estimate that as many as 90% of large nursing homes in the U.S. use arbitration agreements in their admission contracts. The federal government has been considering plans to expand the use of mandatory arbitration clauses to be included in contracts for every long - term care facility that accepts federal money as a condition of admission. Nursing homes receive funding from both Medicaid and Medicare for all residents. .New Medicare enrollees, higher -income beneficiaries, people age 65 and older who have not started Social Security benefits (about 11% of beneficiaries).[5] .CBO Releases New Budget Report … Continued

  • 2019 Social Security Cola 2

    "Social Security was originally created to lift older Americans out of poverty," Johnson notes. "The annual COLA is intended to prevent erosion in the buying power of benefits," Johnson says. "Between the growth in healthcare costs and flat growth in benefits, the COLA is failing the very people it's intended to protect," she says. .We will be putting out more information about this in the next few days and we are working on what we believe is a realistic solution to the COLA problem. Please be looking for that information. .his week, members of the new budget conference met for an opening session, and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) announced its support for legislation that would extend the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) health insurance exchanges. In addition, important numbers were released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week, and TSCL saw . … Continued

"Chaining" the CPI would be a deficit reduction double-hitter. The CPI is used to calculate COLAs, a host of other federal retirement benefits (like military) and federal income tax exemptions, deductions and tax brackets. Thus, switching to a more slowly growing measure would dramatically cut government spending on the annual boosts for Social Security and a host of other federal benefit programs, in addition to quietly raising everyone's taxes. .To see if your Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings during the spring recess, click HERE or call their local offices. You can find contact information HERE. .Proposals to reform Medicare have been floating around the halls of Congress since 2010, but none have been as radical or risky as one recently released by four prominent Senators. In an attempt to curb Medicare spending, the group came up with a plan that would phase out Medicare completely, and it would do so at the expense of current enrollees, beginning as early as 201The proposal, introduced by Senators Rand Paul (KY), Mike Lee (UT), Lindsey Graham (SC), and Jim DeMint (SC), would transition beneficiaries into the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program – the same health program available to Members of Congress. .This is the website of The Senior Citizens League ("TSCL"). ."We're not doing anything without a payroll tax cut," Trump said in a "virtual town hall" event hosted by Fox News at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington earlier this week. .According to a report in Bloomberg Government News, "Centrist Democrats in the House are pushing to shrink their party's health-care wish list to focus more on low-income Americans, a move backed by industry groups including dentists who say a narrower focus is better policy. .(Washington, DC) – Consumer price index data through August 2021 indicates that the 2022 COLA will likely be about 6 percent. But soaring inflation this year has deeply eroded the buying power of Social Security benefits, according to a new update to an ongoing inflation study by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The study, which compares the growth in the Social Security cost of living adjustments (COLA)s with increases in the costs of goods and services typically used by retirees found that, since 2000, Social Security benefits have lost 32 percent of their buying power. .There are concerns that the impact of delayed care might reach a crisis this winter if a renewed crush of COVID-19 cases collides with flu season. That could overwhelm the system in what CDC Director Robert Redfield has predicted will be "one of the most difficult times that we've experienced in American public health." ."Congressional Pay Grows 15 Times Faster Than Social Security Checks"