News

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending June 22 2012

    If adopted, this key bill would improve Social Security COLAs by basing them on the CPI-E, and it would cover the cost by phasing out the payroll tax cap over the course of seven years. Together, these changes would improve the adequacy of Social Security benefits and strengthen the solvency of the Trust Funds past 2035. .Calculate the annual COLA using the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). TSCL studies indicate that using the CPI-E would provide a very modestly - higher COLA in most years. .While there is no estimate of how large the cuts would be under the legislation that just passed, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that a previous version of the Covid relief bill would have triggered about billion in cuts to Medicare in fiscal 2022 and between and billion from other mandatory programs. … Continued

  • Medicare Proposes Tying Drug Costs Effectiveness

    The government would provide a fixed amount of money or "voucher" to purchase private coverage. Currently Medicare pays per procedure. Under this proposal the federal government would provide a fixed amount of money or "voucher," to private health plans to provide coverage. The amount of the voucher would be limited to the growth of the gross domestic product plus one percentage point. However, for the last 40 years national healthcare spending has exceeded the growth of the gross domestic product by more than two percentage points. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that over time the vouchers would become increasingly inadequate to purchase sufficient coverage, or that seniors would face significantly higher premiums. .In 2017, there was a tiny 0.3% COLA and raising Sally's benefit from ,000 to ,00But in 2017 the Medicare Part B premium took a stiff jump to Once again, because the COLA was so low, Sally's share of the Medicare premium was adjusted downward so that her Social Security benefit would not be reduced. However, virtually all of her .00 per month COLA was put toward the increased Part B premium, and today Sally pays a monthly Part B premium of 7.90. .The state of Virginia, however, offers retirees a chance to retain certain parts of coverage but "opt out" of others. If Paula "opted out" of Part D drug coverage, for example, and took medical, dental, and vision coverage alone, she would pay 6 per month. The portion of the premium for the drug coverage through the state of Virginia was a whopping 4 per month. … Continued

This week, lawmakers in the Senate continued working on plans to reform the healthcare system. In addition, The Senior Citizens League saw five key bills gain new cosponsors in the House. .Until we know more about those questions, everyone — even people who've had their vaccines — should continue taking basic prevention steps when recommended. .Key Social Security Bills Gain Support .When we contacted the governor's office for evidence to back up DeSantis' comments, press secretary Cody McCloud didn't produce any studies or statistics. Instead, he cited the Florida Department of Health's contact tracing program, writing that it "has not yielded any information that would suggest any patients have been infected while travelling on a commercial aircraft." .Let a call go to voicemail if you do not recognize a phone number, as scammers rarely leave messages. .Use the Contact Congress feature on the Home page of this site to obtain the names, addresses and other information on your Congressional delegation. You can even e-mail directly and sign our on-line petition in this full featured legislative action center. Click Guide to Contacting Congress to go to this section now. .Senator Nelson also asked Congressman Price about his plans to privatize the Medicare program at Wednesday's hearing. A recent reform plan authored by the Congressman would transform the traditional Medicare program into a "premium support" model, where beneficiaries would be given vouchers from the federal government to purchase private insurance. In the past, Congressman Price has claimed that such plans would result in lower costs for both Medicare and its beneficiaries, but at Wednesday's hearing, Senator Nelson presented a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office that projected premium increases of at least 125 percent for seniors living in Florida and other heavily populated states. He expressed serious concerns about the privatization of Medicare since his constituents would see higher medical costs. .Currently, Social Security COLAs are based on the way young, urban workers spend their money, and because items like gasoline and electronics are weighted more heavily than medical costs and housing expenses, they underestimate the inflation Social Security beneficiaries experience. For example, this year, if COLAs were based on the spending patterns of seniors, Social Security beneficiaries would be receiving a COLA of around 2 percent instead of a 0.3 percent increase. .The judge's order stops the implementation of the rule until the completion of the notice and comment process.