News

  • Ask The Advisor June 2011 Advisor Feed

    Members in the House have decided to offset the bill with a five-year delay of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. Those in the Senate have acknowledged that its chances of passing through their chamber are slim. Sen. Orrin Hatch (UT), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, said of the House's approach: "The House passes a law – they're very good at legislation – but it dies in the Senate. The Senate won't even bring it up." Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) has said, "We're going to move forward in our own way." .Access to work authorization is a key issue for Social Security. With work authorization, non-citizen workers can become eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits. Under current law workers become fully eligible for Social Security benefits after ten years of work. A new survey by the Pew Hispanic Center indicates that an estimated 6.4 million illegals have been living in this country for at least 10 years and thus potentially would be in line for Social Security and Medicare should they receive work authorization. .In 1983 government economists changed the way housing costs were measured in the CPI. Housing represents almost 50% of the expenditures of people age 65 and older, and thus changes to that expenditure category tend to have a big impact. Rather than basing housing costs on some measure of home prices, after 1983 the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated costs "based on what homeowners theoretically would pay to themselves in order to rent their own homes from themselves. The BLS then estimates how much homeowners raise the rent on themselves each month," according to Williams. … Continued

  • Seniorcitizensleague Medicare

    TSCL would like to remind you to contact your Members of Congress while they are still in their home states and districts. Many Senators and Representatives will attend local events or hold town hall meetings this weekend, giving voters an excellent opportunity to have their questions and concerns addressed. We encourage you to contact your Members of Congress to request their support for fair cost-of-living adjustments, Notch fairness, and other key issues. ."The Senior Citizens League Predicts Social Security COLA May Be Post-Election Deficit-Cutting Target" .In his speech, President Obama also spoke briefly about a new retirement savings plan that will allow citizens to invest in low-risk Treasury bonds through "myRA" accounts. Shortly after the speech, he signed a presidential memorandum directing the Treasury Department to create the new plans. While TSCL agrees that saving for retirement is crucial for younger generations, we were disappointed that the President did not propose any efforts to assist today's seniors. Most Americans over the age of sixty-five rely heavily upon their Social Security checks to meet their daily needs. However, our research shows that seniors are unable to keep up with rising costs – their expenses are rising more than twice as fast as the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment. We strongly believe that Congress should act soon to restore the purchasing power of Social Security benefits. … Continued

This week, two Members of Congress – Rep. Ted Deutch (FL-21) and Sen. Mark Begich (AK) – re-introduced the Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act (H.R. 649 and S. 308), a bill that would base the calculation of Social Security COLAs on the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E), and gradually eliminate the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. .If you delay starting benefits, past your full retirement age, your benefit will grow by 8% of the full retirement benefit amount per year until age 70, at which point your benefit would be about ,50To learn more about your Social Security benefits, and to get estimates visit the Social Security Administration's website at www.SSA.gov. .The House recently approved legislation that would require a valid Social Security Number in order for tax filers to claim the child tax credits, but the fate of the legislation is uncertain in the Senate. TSCL is strongly opposed to allowing illegal immigrants to collect refundable tax credits of ANY kind. We encourage you to contact your Members of Congress to tell them to put a stop to this .2 billion hand-out. Send an email to your Member of Congress online. .Two Key Bills Gain Cosponsors .Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its warning for cruise travel for the first time since several outbreaks on ships brought the industry to a halt last year. .A new fraud scheme designed to target seniors appears almost daily. In many cases, seniors have watched their entire life savings disappear in scams that are specifically designed to target their assets. .Consumers in the U.S. are used to have many choices when it comes to the products we buy. Usually that is a good thing. But sometimes it creates a dilemma in deciding which is the right one to get. It turns out that the problem of choice is creating concerns about which of the vaccines against the coronavirus we should take. .SSI is a federal program that provides monthly benefit payments to people age 65 or older, who are blind or have a disability and who have little or no income and resources. People who receive SSI are also eligible to receive food stamps and Medicaid. .TSCL believes the increased use of observation stays is denying Medicare beneficiaries access to medically necessary skilled nursing care. All days spent in a hospital should count toward Medicare's three-day hospital stay requirement. TSCL supports the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act (H.R. 1179) introduced by Representatives Joseph Courtney (CT-2) and Tom Latham (IA-3), and (S. 569) introduced by Senators Sherrod Brown, (OH) and Susan Collins (ME). The legislation would deem time an individual spends under observation status eligible towards satisfying Medicare's three-day requirement.