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  • Seniors Hurt By Intolerable Mail Delays

    Surveys by The Senior Citizens League find that older voters are strongly opposed to proposals that would cut benefits. For example, 73 percent support raising the amount of wages subject to Social Security payroll taxes by applying the full 12.4% payroll tax to wages above the taxable maximum —8,700 in 201Currently the highest earners — some 18 percent of all workers, pay no Social Security taxes on wages over the 8,700 maximum — that includes Members of Congress who receive an annual salary 4,000. Surveys have also found 90 percent strongly support allowing Medicare to negotiate drug costs. .During the Great Recession and immediately afterwards, mature workers got a raw deal; it's time for Congress to give them a Better Deal. .Housing Survey, a survey of landlords and tenants used to provide rent data for CPI's shelter indexes. … Continued

  • Notch Bulletin Does Your Representative Support Notch Reform Help Us Build Key Support Now Feed

    Payments to the plans were cut 6 billion over 10 years under 2010 healthcare reform legislation. So far the program has remained relatively stable and continues to grow in enrollment. .Back in 2010, before Obamacare became law, the President made the following promise to the public: "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period." Fast-forward four years, and many seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage – the privately-run alternative to traditional Medicare – are finding themselves doctor-less. As it turns out, yet another Obamacare promise has been broken. .Low and middle-income earners pay taxes on all of their earnings. In recent years, however, the share of total wages earned in the U.S. and subject to Social Security payroll tax has declined because the earnings of the most highly paid workers have grown rapidly. Most of the proposals to increase the taxable maximum would also raise benefits of the affected workers by counting earnings above the old cap in the benefit formula. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that eliminating the taxable maximum would extend the Social Security solvency as much as 50 years.[1] … Continued

In reality, no Social Security reduction is small, because the loss compounds over time. The problem is especially unacceptable when this problem can be prevented by Congress in the first place. Individuals who were born in 1949 and who retired at age 66 with average benefits have lost about ,915 through the end of 2021, due to the reduction in the AWI in 200Their benefits today are about per month lower than what they otherwise would have received had they been born one year earlier. Even worse is the loss over time. Assuming that an individual lives to age 90, retirees born in 1949 would lose an additional ,297 in lifetime Social Security benefits—or even more, if their benefits are higher than average. This type of benefit reduction is known as a "notch" in benefits, and those affected might be referred to as the "1949 notch babies." .In the meantime, many Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings to address the questions and concerns of their constituents. TSCL encourages its members and supporters to attend these town halls and to ask questions of their elected officials about important Social Security and Medicare issues, like the following four… .A Humana Medicare Advantage plan in Florida improperly collected nearly 0 million in payments in 2015 by overstating how sick some of its enrollees were. A new audit by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is seeking to get the money back. If successful, the audit penalty would be what has been described as "by far the largest" ever imposed on a Medicare Advantage company. But Humana has sharply disputed the OIG's findings, and has said that the recommendations "do not represent final determinations, and Humana will have the right to appeal." .Contributing: Nathan Bomey and Robert Powell .This is the website of The Senior Citizens League ("TSCL"). .Congress Fails to Reach Agreement – President Takes Action .5 DIY Holiday Gift Ideas For A Social Security Budget .Sources: "Verifying Eligibility for Certain New Tax Benefits Was A Challenge for the 2010 Filing Season," Treasury Inspector General, September 30, 2010, Ref. No. 2010-41-128 .Unreported deaths undoubtedly rank as the Social Security Administration's number one "Most Gruesome Fraud Management Failures." Hardly a month goes by without the discovery of a grizzly new case. Usually some elderly person is found long-dead of natural causes in their own home or that of a close relative — frequently years after death. The death was never reported. Remains have been discovered tucked into beds, placed in freezers, and even sitting on toilets. Meanwhile loving sons or daughters continued to collect the deceased's Social Security checks — sometimes for decades. One Brooklyn man is serving up to 41 years for impersonating his dead mom. He donned a wig and wore her dresses to collect 5,000 in her Social Security payments and rent subsidies.