News

  • Category Congressional Corner Page 6

    Despite progress on the bill's movement in the House this week, the AHCA appears to have a tough road ahead. TSCL will be keeping a close eye on it in the days and weeks ahead since its passage would negatively impact the health and financial stability of older Americans. For updates, follow TSCL on Twitter, or visit the Legislative News section of our website. In addition, we encourage our members and supporters to call their representatives in Congress to request their opposition to the AHCA. Contact information can be found HERE. .As the Representative for Indiana's Seventh Congressional District, I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with many seniors during my Medicare forums. These seniors have uniformly shared concern that they will bear the lion's share of the burden of Congress' failure to come to a constructive resolution on our nation's debt. As cuts to Medicare and Social Security have been put on the table, seniors are wondering whether their health or their standard of living is in jeopardy. In this difficult economic climate, we must ensure that changes to either of these programs do not deprive seniors of the ability to fend for themselves. .The age at which you start receiving full Social Security benefits varies depending upon the year you were born. For people like you who turn 66 in 2021, your full retirement age is 66 and two months. For more retirement planning information visit www.SocialSecurity.gov. … Continued

  • Category Issues Totalization Articles Page 2

    The good news is that both issues tend to be non-partisan. However, the bad news is that both cost a considerable amount of money, which means more federal spending. That's why the bills we support that would fix those issues have been tied up in committee for so long and have not been able to move through either the House or Senate. .Immigration Reform .TSCL believes this type of mathematical gimmickry shortchanges the measurement of real cost increases, thereby shortchanging the COLAs of almost 58 million beneficiaries. Yet this is just one of many such changes since 198TSCL believes that the strongest protection Social Security recipients have against such machinations of benefits is legislation that would guarantee that COLAs would be no less than 3%. This could be paid for by lifting the Social Security taxable maximum so that high-income earners making more than 8,500 pay their fair share of taxes. This not only is fair, but would ensure more adequate benefits for all retirees. … Continued

TSCL's legislative team will be monitoring the tax reform discussions closely in the coming days and weeks, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. In the meantime, we encourage our supporters to contact their Members of Congress to request their opposition to tax reform measures that will jeopardize the health and financial security of older Americans. For contact information, click HERE. .Is Social Security A Ponzi Scheme? How Much In Social Security Income Can I Expect To Get? .This week, The Senior Citizens League's (TSCL) legislative team met with several Members of Congress and their top staff to discuss legislation that would protect and defend the Social Security benefits of seniors. In addition, members of TSCL's legislative team were in attendance at the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's first public hearing. TSCL also saw support grow for a key piece of legislation. .Budget Committee Debates Future of DI Program .Older Americans have lost more than 22% of their purchasing power since 2000, and this year Social Security beneficiaries received no COLA despite a national survey indicating a majority reported higher costs. Do you support legislation that would give seniors an emergency COLA before the end of this year? .Whenever possible, share your views with your elected officials. It is important that they are made aware of how their constituents feel. Remember, you are the one who has control over their job security. You could either call or write your Members of Congress. You can find your member of Congress, as well as their address and phone number, through the Guide to Contacting Congress feature on the Home page of this web site. .This week, the Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) saw one key bills gain support. .This week, action remained slow on Capitol Hill as the month-long August recess continued. .In addition, one new cosponsor signed on to the Preventing and Reducing Improper Medicare and Medicaid Expenditures (PRIME) Act (H.R. 2305). The new cosponsor is Rep. Tim Walberg (MI-7), and the total now sits at sixty-six. If signed into law, the PRIME Act would take a number of steps to comprehensively prevent fraud, waste, and abuse within the two programs – a problem that TSCL believes must be addressed in order to ensure that scarce program dollars are being spent properly.