News

  • Cola Estimated To Be 6 To 6 1 For 2022

    I read your story about a potential Social Security benefit cut affecting people who were born in 1960. Has Congress taken any action yet to correct this? .In 2007 an analysis released by TSCL estimated that if 6 million illegal workers were to gain work authorization it would cost Social Security alone more than .6 trillion in benefits through 204Under current law, if illegal immigrants get work authorization at some point they could file claim for Social Security benefits. Currently the Social Security Administration uses all reported earnings to determine entitlement to benefits, including earnings for jobs worked illegally if the worker has kept evidence, like W2s, of earnings. .In 2015, the Senate Finance Committee came up with a simpler explanation for high drug prices. After reviewing 20,000 pages of company documents, it found that Gilead Sciences had what the committee's ranking Democratic member, Ron Wyden of Oregon, called "a calculated scheme for pricing and marketing its hepatitis C drug based on one primary goal, maximizing revenue." … Continued

  • Legislative Update Week Ending February 10 2017

    TSCL believes COLAs need to be more fairly and accurately calculated, and strongly supports recently introduced legislation that would provide an emergency COLA. To learn more, visit . .On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to question Congressman Tom Price (GA-6), an orthopedic surgeon from Georgia who was nominated by President Trump to become the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). If confirmed, Congressman Price will lead the agency that has jurisdiction over Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and many other critical health programs. .Should Social Security benefits be adjusted annually using a locality – based payment rate? Some of you, particularly those of you who are retired federal employees know far more about locality - based pay adjustments than I do. I hope you folks can set us straight on a new legislative proposal that would use locality- based pay adjustment rates to adjust Social Security benefits. My quest­ion to you — is this a good idea? Why or why not? … Continued

Two Social Security Reforms That Seniors Strongly Support .When the Social Security Administration announced that the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2016 would be zero, a stunning thing occurred. The Medicare Trustees projected that the monthly Part B premium would increase by an unprecedented .50 (52%) between 2015 and 2016— from 4.90 to 9.30 per month. What does this have to do with the situation today? .Under a 2004 law, non-citizens who apply for benefits with a SSN assigned in 2004 and thereafter must have legal work authorization at some point in order to file a claim for benefit. But the law does not apply to aliens who received a SSN prior to January 1, 200Those non-citizens may be able to claim Social Security benefits without ever having legally worked. In fact, our government already pays Social Security disability and retirement benefits to non-citizen aliens and their dependents based on illegal earnings. The cost to Social Security of those payments was recently estimated to be 6 billion through 2040, according to Advisor editor and Social Security policy analyst Mary Johnson. .If signed into law, the Strengthening Social Security Act would amend title II of the Social Security Act to adjust the benefit formula, resulting in a more generous monthly Social Security benefit. It would also change the way that cost-of-living adjustments are calculated by adopting a Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, and it would lift the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. .Changes are looming for Medicare and Social Security. Make your opinion count. Visit TSCL online at and take our monthly poll. We'll announce the results in upcoming issues of this newsletter. .In a statement, Congressman Doggett said: "Despite groundbreaking medical discoveries, we see no breakthrough in affordability for consumers. Drug pricing in America is a tangled mess, a knot that will take more than one cut to pull apart … Sick patients are tired of seeing Congress do nothing about a problem that affects so many." .Affordable Care Act – Monitor the continued implementation of the law as it affects older Americans. .Again, next year, a number of physicians and medical specialists were facing sharp Medicare pay cuts. This was to come, of course, in the face of the worst pandemic in our lifetimes and one which has worn so many physicians and nurses to the point of exhaustion. .Sources: Individuals Who Are Not Authorized To Work In The United States Were Paid .2 Billion In Refundable Credits, Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration, July 7, 2011, http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2011reports/201141061fr.html . "Tax Loophole Costs Billions," transcript, Bob Segall, WTHR, 13 Indiana, May 10, 2012.