News

  • The Senior Citizens League Weekly Update For Week Ending March 13 2020

    Require Medicare beneficiaries to pay a higher portion of the Part B premium. Premiums for Part B cover physician and hospital outpatient services. The premiums of most seniors, those with incomes under ,000, equal 25 percent of Medicare's total cost of services, and the federal government covers the other 75 percent of the cost. This proposal would require seniors to pay 35 percent instead - like higher-income seniors do now. The 2010 Medicare Trustee report estimates that Part B premiums at the 35% level would be 9.30 per month in 2012. .However, it is possible that some doctors and hospitals may opt not to accept Medicare due to lower cost reimbursements or providers may also try to pass extra costs to consumers. .(Washington, DC) – Medicare doesn't have the authority to negotiate drug prices, leaving millions of older Americans at risk of price gouging for their prescription drugs, according to a new comparison of drug plans by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). "Because Medicare isn't negotiating on our behalf, there's no consistency in drug pricing among drug plans," states TSCL's Medicare policy analyst, Mary Johnson, who performed the comparisons using the Medicare website's Drug Plan Finder. Costs vary enormously between plans. "The disparity in pricing for the same drug can be in the hundreds of dollars," says Johnson. … Continued

  • Best Ways Save February March 2019

    Where do you want to live and how will you get around? Do you plan to stay where you are, move to senior housing, or someday move in with family? Is it cheaper to rent or to buy? If you own a home, will your financial plan cover the annual maintenance and inevitable upkeep and repairs such as painting or replacing a roof? Will you have access to public transportation if you can no longer drive or afford a vehicle? Look for local workshops that review the types of housing options in your area for people over 60. .A few years later, under 2003 Medicare drug legislation, funding for private plans was significantly boosted and the program got rebranded as "Medicare Advantage." Enrollment grew steadily and rapidly ever since. But by 2009, government economists reported that the payments to the plans cost the federal government 14 percent more than the same services would have cost under traditional Medicare. .On Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee approved legislation that would repeal and replace the sustainable growth rate (SGR), which is the flawed formula that is currently used to determine reimbursements for physicians who treat Medicare patients. The SGR regularly calls for steep pay cuts for doctors and other providers, threatening beneficiaries' access to medical care. … Continued

This week, The Senior Citizens League was pleased to see support grow for four key bills that would improve the Social Security and Medicare programs if adopted. .Fight to End Surprise Billing is Losing Key Ally ."But the time is coming when the states and federal government will be under urgent pressure to cut Medicaid and Medicare costs," says TSCL Chairman, Larry Hyland. "TSCL is concerned that if states and the federal government don't design and implement the changes the right way, beneficiaries' may lose access to medically necessary care and quality." ."This increase is due in large part to the effects of a zero and an excessively low cost of living adjustment (COLA) in 2016 and 2017, occurring when Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs like prescription drugs were climbing steeply," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. .Sources: "Social Security Benefits Related to Unauthorized Work," SSA Office of the Inspector General, March 2003, A-03-03-2305"Illegal Immigrant Crackdown Looms," Nicole Gaouette, The Los Angeles Times, August 3, 200 .TSCL supports legislation that would raise the taxable maximum. "TSCL believes that cutting Social Security benefits can't be justified when moderate payroll tax adjustments can keep the system solvent for decades," says TSCL Executive Director Shannon Benton. "Requiring everyone to pay their full share would add years of solvency to the Social Security," Benton says. .Pelosi is reported to be aiming for a House vote on the plan by the end of October or early November but Senate Majority Leader McConnell has already said the bill will go nowhere in the Senate. .The first few months of this year were spent encouraging lawmakers to re-introduce critical legislation. So far, TSCL's most vital bills have been re-introduced, including the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E) Act, the Notch Fairness Act, the Social Security Fairness Act, and the Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act. More recently, TSCL's focus has shifted to building support for these and other bills, and already, many legislators have signed on to them as co-sponsors. .Social Security runs two disability programs – each with separate sources of funding. SSDI provides income to under age 65 adults that is calculated from their own work covered by FICA taxes. Their benefits are paid from the SSDI Fund. The Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) also pays disability benefits, but it's for low-income people without enough of work history to qualify for SSDI. Benefits are funded through both federal (and some state) revenues, and it's means tested like welfare.