News

  • Family Caregivers Need Credit New Tax Credit Would Help Families Age In Place Says The Senior Citizens League

    This week, The Senior Citizens League announced its support for the Social Security Administration Fairness Act (S. 3147, H.R. 6251), which was recently introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) and Representative John Larson (CT-1) with the support of six Senate cosponsors and twenty House cosponsors. .Social Security Can Be Fixed Without Benefit Cuts .Your chance to make some changes is coming up, November 15 through December 3Since Medicare's open enrollment period is in the middle of Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season, your best bet is to do your homework by starting now. Here are some things you should know: … Continued

  • Another Three Years Of Extremely Low Colas Ss Checks Of Millions May Shrink

    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. .With more than 17 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hasn't been able to ensure that their risk scores are accurate. When CMS has checked, nearly one - third of the scores were too high. "Given the size of Medicare Advantage, even a small error can add up to billions in overpayments," says TSCL Executive Director Shannon Benton. "TSCL believes that home visits should be focused on providing better care to the patient, not boosting health plan profits." .Our nation is in a hyper-partisan period as the November elections approach. In this environment it becomes tricky when reporting about issues that affect you and other TSCL supporters because the issues are so often intertwined with politics. … Continued

To make the Social Security COLA more adequate, The Senior Citizens League believes Congress must adopt the CPI-E Act (H.R. 1251). This bipartisan bill would base Social Security COLAs on the spending patterns of older Americans – not the spending patterns of young, working Americans – using the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). .On Monday, an executive order from President Obama went into effect requiring all federal agencies – including the Social Security Administration (SSA) – to add an additional security measure to all online accounts that contain sensitive personal information. Under the new policy, Social Security beneficiaries must provide a text-enabled cellphone number when logging in to their online accounts. The two-step authorization process requires them to enter a temporary security code sent to them via text message before they can access their online information. .Our surveys are the key means to educate the public on issues, and for Members of Congress, to gauge how people think. Survey results can turn up the heat during an election year. This month, TSCL launches our annual 2020 Senior Survey, and we urge you to participate. This is our most important survey of the year, and your responses count. . Send an email to your Members of Congress. This is an election year, and the last thing they want to hear is that health insurers are blaming COVID-19 for the steep price increases. You can get email addresses on TSCL's website here: http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8854/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=10560. Or, you can look up your Representative and send emails at: www.house.gov and Senators at: www.senate.gov. .TSCL supports several bills in the House that would strengthen your Social Security benefits by indexing the COLA using the CPI-E. Visit us at www.SeniorsLeague to learn the latest on this legislation and what you can do to help move this legislation in Congress! .Common sense suggests that the slowdown in rising Medicare costs is unlikely to last long. Medicare spending results for two main reasons: .This year, we challenged our members to be more vocal than ever about their Social Security and Medicare concerns, and our expectations were surpassed to say the least! Our members signed an unprecedented 1,504,372 petitions, and in April, we boxed them up, trekked to Capitol Hill, and delivered them by hand to the offices of each Representative and Senator in the U.S. Congress. .Unless you are in poor health and need money to put food on the table or keep a roof over your head, these days it makes sense to delay starting benefits as long as you can. That's especially true if you're single and have limited retirement savings. If you claim Social Security too early, you could set yourself up for a reduced standard of living for the rest of your life. .Insurance for Old Age: Are Annuities A Good Idea?