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  • Congressional Corner We Must Protect Health Care Access For Seniors

    Only five weeks remain before the conference committee's December 13th deadline, and House and Senate appropriators are urging the conferees to settle on a top-line spending number even earlier – before the Thanksgiving recess begins on November 22nd. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (MD), Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said this week: "We believe that if an agreement on a discretionary spending number can be reached early, it will allow for more thoughtful and responsible spending decisions." .Sources: "Advocates Head To Court To Overturn Medicare Rules For Observation Care," Susan Jaffee, Kaiser Health News and USA Today, May 3, 2013. .Coronavirus and the U.S. Drug Supply … Continued

  • Congressional Corner By Us Representative Dennis A Ross Fl 12

    The number of older taxpayers who find that a portion of their Social Security benefits are taxable tends to grow over time. Unlike income brackets that are adjusted for inflation, the income thresholds that subject Social Security benefits to taxation have never been adjusted since Social Security benefits became taxable in 198When the law was first passed, less than 10 percent of all Social Security recipients were estimated to have incomes high enough to be affected by the tax on benefits. But today, even retirees with modest incomes can be affected by the tax. .To make the Social Security program fairer, The Senior Citizens League is advocating for legislation that would give beneficiaries a more adequate annual COLA. Under current law, the COLA is based on the spending patterns of young, working Americans. It fails to capture the true inflation seniors experience since it does not include major expenses like rising Medicare premiums. The bipartisan CPI-E Act (H.R. 1251) would base the COLA on the spending patterns of older Americans, and it's a change that is backed by 81 percent of The Senior Citizens League's supporters according to the results of our 2018 Senior Survey. .We will be putting out more information about this in the next few days and we are working on what we believe is a realistic solution to the COLA problem. Please be looking for that information. … Continued

To learn more about proposals that would affect your Medicare and Social Security benefits, to get tips on reducing your Medicare costs, and to sign up for TSCL's free online newsletter, The Social Security & Medicare Advisor, visit TSCL at . .Make no mistake: millions of American families and our entire economy depend on getting mature workers the right skills for today's jobs. We need them back at work, earning good salaries, investing in their retirement, mentoring young workers and driving our economy forward. .White House officials and public health leaders said they don't expect a vaccine to be widely available until March or April, which means wearing masks and other non-pharmaceutical measures will likely be the only option to reduce the spread of the virus until the end of February. .The Congressional Budget Office estimates that H.R. 3, Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, prescription drug price negotiation legislation which is under debate in the House could lower government spending on Part D by 6 billion over a ten year period, but cautioned the estimates are uncertain, especially if price negotiations are implemented differently that the CBO's interpretation. .TSCL recently asked their members and supporters how no COLA in 2016 would impact their budgets. "They told us they will struggle to cover the costs of prescription drugs, car repairs, property taxes, rising food costs, and even their most basic needs next year," Cates says. "Simply put, Americans living on a fixed income cannot afford to go without a COLA, and we are concerned about the impact recent years of record - low COLAs will have on the long-term adequacy of benefits for millions of people who depend on COLAs," Cates explains. .TSCL believes that the Delay until Fully Functional Act represents a fair solution to the technical problems that the HealthCare.gov website has been experiencing for the past month. Millions of Americans – including seniors under the age of sixty-five – have been unable to purchase insurance coverage through the new marketplace due to the technical glitches. According to the law, those who fail to enroll before March 31st will be faced with a tax penalty of either or 1 percent of income, whichever is higher. .By Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) .If his income is too high to qualify for either, your daughter may want to find out if the 0 penalty is really accurate. If she can find evidence that her father-in-law had qualifying health insurance coverage after turning age 65, such as through a former employer, even for a few years, that coverage may potentially reduce the amount of the Part B delayed enrollment penalty. This sort of digging can be difficult if her father-in-law has cognitive or memory issues now. Another family member or a former coworker may be able to help though, and at 0 a month, it's worth a few calls. .According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), wages are growing faster for people who earn more than the Social Security taxable maximum than for people earning less. The CBO projects that this unequal growth in earnings will cause a decline in revenues received by the Social Security Trust Fund over the next decade.