News

  • Two Courts Halt Rule Tying Certain Drug Prices To Other Countries

    The Senate was not in session and is scheduled to return on January 25th. .This week, after months of discussions, leaders in the majority party revealed legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act. In addition, in a Wednesday meeting with President Donald Trump, two lawmakers proposed a plan to reduce prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries. .No change to the taxation of Social Security benefits: Up to 85% of Social Security benefits can be subject to taxation. When that provision was first enacted into law in 1983, it was expected to affect only 10% of households with Social Security income. But unlike tax brackets, the income thresholds subjecting Social Security benefits to taxation have never been adjusted. Today, just as in 1983, individuals with incomes greater than ,000 (or ,000 for married couples filing jointly), pay taxes on their Social Security benefits. According to TSCL surveys, roughly half of all households receiving Social Security pay tax on a portion of their benefits. Not only are the numbers who pay the tax growing, but people are paying taxes on larger portions of their Social Security income as well. … Continued

  • January 30 2021

    (Washington, DC) – A new survey seeking to learn the financial impact of the coronavirus on older Americans indicates that almost half of retirees say they have gone without essential items. According to the survey by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), 48 percent of survey respondents report they have gone without food, prescription drugs, face masks, and disinfecting cleaning products during the coronavirus pandemic. "Our survey suggests that almost half of the nation's retirees may not have the resources needed to cope with COVID-19," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. .New regulatory threats, some at the urging of the pharmaceutical industry, could make it impossible for seniors to purchase certain products like vitamins and minerals without a prescription. It may sound outrageous, but seniors could soon be limited in their access to things as simple as protein shakes, vegetable juice and even herbal hand lotion without a prescription. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently began imposing new regulations on products used in "Complementary and Alternative Medicine" (CAM). TSCL is concerned the expensive federal regulations will restrict seniors' access to commonly available items and drive up costs for those that remain on the market. .It is indisputable that Americans are, on average, living longer lives. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, someone who turned 65 in 1950 had, on average, 13.9 more years to live, while someone who turned 65 in 2007 had, on average, 18.6 more years to live. The 2009 Social Security Trustees Report also projected that over the next 25 years the life expectancy at age 65 will increase to 19.5 more years. Many cite this as a reason to support increasing the retirement age. Also, by encouraging workers to stay in the work force longer, more revenue will come into Social Security's coffers. … Continued

According to a report in The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper, "There are further administrative steps that need to happen before the proposal will actually take effect and result in lower drug prices. The secretary of Health and Human Services will have to issue the details of the proposal, and there will be an array of questions as to how the policy will work in practice. .These bills would enable retired school teachers, university employees and thousands of civil servants to receive all of the Social Security pensions for which they are entitled. A Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) have long limited the full aid that these beneficiaries merit. .In 2014 the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the average tax payment of Social Security households equaled 6.7 percent of benefit income — an amount that is estimated to grow to 9 percent of benefits by 203"That growth is likely to occur much more rapidly due to changes in the tax law, which uses a more slowly growing consumer price index to adjust the tax code," Johnson says. .USA TODAY .Not only does this put unwitting retirees' Medicare number in the hands of crooks who can then resell it to be used to file more false claims, but it can cause Medicare to deny future coverage for genetic testing when it's really needed, because the patient's record will show the test has already been performed. .TSCL believes that Congress should strengthen Social Security's protections by enacting legislation to prohibit the use of unauthorized earnings from being counted toward eligibility for Social Security benefits, "a change that should be made regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court decision or whether Congress moves on immigration or Social Security reform," Cates says. .The CPI-E regularly puts the spending inflation for seniors at two-tenths of a percentage point higher than the rate at which the CPI-W increases. That may seem like an insignificant amount, but over a twenty-five-year retirement, COLAs do compound significantly. We estimate that a senior who filed for Social Security benefits around thirty years ago would have received nearly ,000 more in retirement if the CPI-E had been used to calculate COLAs. .Seniors Speak Out: TSCL Delivers Petition Tsunami To Congress .TSCL is continuing to work hard for any and all legislation that would accomplish those goals.