News

  • What Would Food Cost Today If Prices Increased As Fast As Medicare

    This week, The Senior Citizens League announced its support for the Social Security Administration Fairness Act (S. 3147, H.R. 6251), which was recently introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) and Representative John Larson (CT-1) with the support of six Senate cosponsors and twenty House cosponsors. ."Using the chained CPI to calculate COLAs would make the problem even worse," Hyland contends. "The chained CPI is calculated much differently than the Consumer Price Index for Workers (CPI-W), the current CPI, and would have a significant effect on reducing the total amount of lifetime Social Security benefits that people receive," Hyland says. "The data certainly suggests this is the case," he adds. .This week, action remained slow on Capitol Hill as the month-long August recess continued. … Continued

  • Legislative Update Week Ending January 9 2015

    Please join us in our drive to gather 100,000 signatures on a petition to the White House by clicking Here to sign our petition or by pasting this into your address bar: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/stop-calling-payroll-tax-cuts-and-preserve-social-security-and-medicare .Heating and cooling assistance, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). .Budget Chair Revives Fiscal Commission Plan … Continued

According to a report from Kaiser Health News, the skepticism is "Because whether it's sharing the credit for a legislative victory with the other party or running afoul of the powerful pharmaceutical lobby, neither Democrats nor Republicans are sure the benefits are worth the risks, according to several of those familiar with the debate on Capitol Hill. .Notes from Jessie Gibbons, TSCL Legislative Analyst .What do you think? Take TSCL's 2014 Senior Survey. .Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has indicated he will not bring the bill up for a vote until he knows there are enough Republicans who support it so that it can pass. .The Covid-19 pandemic has both heightened the urgency of reining in pharmaceutical costs yet also made it harder for lawmakers to act. Drug makers say limiting their profits could hamper efforts to create a vaccine against the virus, but medicines to treat it come with significant price tags. Gilead Sciences, Inc., set the price for its widely used Remdesivir at ,340 for a five-day treatment. .Both bills would stop a premium hike of nearly 50 percent that's scheduled to hit millions of beneficiaries in January. They would also prevent a deductible increase of nearly , from 7 to Most Medicare beneficiaries will not be affected by the increases due to the "hold harmless provision" that protects them in years when premium increases are large enough to reduce their monthly Social Security checks. Since seniors are expected to receive no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year, the premium rates for around 70 percent of beneficiaries will remain unchanged from this year's. .It came in the mid-1950s, before health insurance for outpatient care was common, before new drugs were protected by multiple patents, and before medical research was regarded as a way to become rich. It was not patented because it was not considered patentable under the standards at the time. .To learn more about Medicare deductibles visit online at www.Medicare.gov or call toll free at 1-800-MEDICARE ( 7). .Just years before they were set to retire, these individuals learned that they would receive significantly lower benefits than originally anticipated. The problem has grown and compounded over time, and TSCL believes that in order to make the program more equitable, some compensation for the injustice should be provided. We enthusiastically support Rep. Meng's Notch Fairness Act, and we were pleased to see one new cosponsor sign on this week.