News

  • Legislative Update Week Ending April 14 2017

    Seniors are often targeted for their money or identity, commonly with fraudsters asking seniors to send a payment through gift cards, by wire transfer, credit card, or other predatory schemes. Retailers, financial services providers, and wire transfer companies have undertaken efforts to do their part to stop their customers, including seniors, from being scammed. .The program applies to illegals under the age of 31, who entered the U.S. prior to the age of 16, and have resided illegally in the U.S. since June 15, 200Applicants must also be currently enrolled in school, have a GED certificate, or have served in the U.S. military, and be law-abiding. Critics, including TSCL, question how the government will be able to verify when applicants actually entered the country and whether they were under the age of 16 when they did. .When my husband and I were planning the timing on our Social Security benefits, our financial advisor suggested that we could maximize our payout if I started with a spousal benefit based on my husband's account, while letting my own retirement benefit grow. I continued to work and started the spousal benefit at age 66, my full retirement age. Now I am 70, but have not received any notice from Social Security about my own retirement benefit. Does this mean I won't get anything higher than I already receive? … Continued

  • Legislative Update June 2012 Advisor

    TSCL believes this type of mathematical gimmickry shortchanges the measurement of real cost increases, thereby shortchanging the COLAs of almost 58 million beneficiaries. Yet this is just one of many such changes since 198TSCL believes that the strongest protection Social Security recipients have against such machinations of benefits is legislation that would guarantee that COLAs would be no less than 3%. This could be paid for by lifting the Social Security taxable maximum so that high-income earners making more than 8,500 pay their fair share of taxes. This not only is fair, but would ensure more adequate benefits for all retirees. .Growing numbers of seniors are working longer, and delaying the start of benefits. According to a TSCL survey conducted early this year, 42 percent of seniors who are still working say they plan to delay the start of benefits until age 66 or thereafter. Those who continue to work, continue to pay Social Security, Medicare and other taxes as well. .You should still avoid medium or large-sized gatherings. … Continued

Despite the fact that leaders are holding steadfast on their positions, a small bipartisan group in the House proposed a plan on Thursday that would fund the government for six months and repeal the health care law's controversial tax on medical devices. The leaders of the bipartisan group – Reps. Ron Kind (WI-3) and Charlie Dent (PA-15) – believe their proposal represents a fair compromise that both sides can support. .Meanwhile, some of the highest-priced drugs in the United States are brand-name drugs that can cost thousands of dollars per dose and are used to treat life-threatening illness such as hepatitis C or cancer, the researchers said. .Early Efforts to Hold Congress to Its Promise Leads to a Notch Commission .Today we are going to be hearing from people in their own words about Congress's neglect to help the very citizens we are sworn to serve. .The Notch Fairness Act In House And Senate .Generations have watched big-government, socialist systems fail, one after another, in countries experimenting with soviet-style, centralized planning. Medicare-for-all would be no different, leading to longer wait times and lowered standards of care at an unsustainable cost to the American taxpayer. .This week, House and Senate lawmakers returned to Washington to resume the "lame duck" session of Congress and continued working towards a deal to keep the federal government operating past next Friday. In addition, The Senior Citizens League saw four key bills gain support in the House and Senate. .Instead of using the CPI-W or the "chained" CPI, TSCL has been advocating for an inflation index that we believe would actually result in a more accurate Social Security COLA. We favor the CPI for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E), which the BLS has been tracking &ndah; but not utilizing – for decades. This index has shown that the spending inflation for seniors averages about two-tenths of a percentage point higher than the rate at which the CPI-W increases. We estimate that a senior who retired with average Social Security benefits in 1984 would have received ,496 more through 2013 had the CPI-E been used. .If signed into law, H.R. 973 would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) – two federal provisions that unfairly reduce the earned Social Security benefits of millions of teachers, firefighters, peace officers, and other state or local government employees each year.