News

  • 2013 Seniors Lose 31 Percent Of Their Buying Power Since 2000 2013 Annual Survey Of Senior Costs Finds Expenses Have Increased More Than Twice As Fast As Social Security Cola

    Since passage of Medicare in 1965 all seniors received the same benefits for the same standard premium. But in 2003, Congress took the unprecedented step of passing legislation that required "upper-income" seniors to pay increased premiums for Medicare Part B. Forcing these seniors to pay more for the same Medicare benefits is known as the "means test." .Federal prosecutors recently announced the biggest-ever one-day takedown of a phony Medicare billing scheme. One hundred seven people were charged, including doctors and nurses in seven U.S. cities, with taking part in a scheme to steal 2 million from Medicare. About the same time, the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services reported that federal investigators have uncovered questionable billings at 2,600 drugstores nationwide. A pharmacy in Kansas billed Medicare for more than 1,000 prescriptions each for just two patients. Medicare paid .6 billion to the drugstores whose billings are now being questioned. While those announcements generated great election year headlines, the fact is that seniors and taxpayers can only hope to see a tiny fraction of Medicare's money recovered. .At Wednesday's hearing, several lawmakers asked Congressman Price about his plans to implement a new executive order from President Trump – signed following his inauguration on January 20th – that will dismantle parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). To these and other questions about the ACA's repeal, Congressman Price responded ambiguously by assuring lawmakers that he would "make certain that we have the highest-quality health care and that every single American has access to affordable coverage." … Continued

  • Social Security Trust Fund Missing Top Paid Ceos

    On Tuesday – despite projections that showed large gains for Democrats on Capitol Hill – lawmakers on the right swept elections across the country. For the first time in eight years, Republicans will control the House, the Senate, and the White House when the 115th Congress begins in January. Senator Roy Blunt (MO), who narrowly held on to his Senate seat on Tuesday, told reporters: "A Republican president and a Republican Senate and a Republican House can do things to change this country." .The program is not meant to pay for all your energy costs, and in many places only provides assistance for your main heating source. For example, if you heat with oil, your local program may approve delivery of only a specific amount of heating oil and that may only fill a portion of your fuel tank. The amount of help you get depends on where you live, your income, your energy costs and needs, and your family size, in addition to other factors such as your age. In addition, in many areas of the country, the program runs out of funding quickly and operates on a first come, first serve basis. .Earnings are vital to the amount you receive because your wages form the basis of your Social Security benefit. SSA calculates your benefit based on your highest 35 years of earnings. When you sign up for a "my Social Security" account, the estimate will list every year of earnings on file. Count them up! Ideally you will have more than 35 years of earnings. But that may be hard for some workers to achieve, particularly those who spent time at home raising a family or providing caregiving for older family members (often women). … Continued

Prevention of Fraud, Waste, and Abuse – Ensure that scarce Medicare and Social Security dollars are spent properly. .Big Effort to Lower Drug Prices Once Again in Congress .As opposed to previous years, the Senate leaders want any legislation they have to pass out of the way by the end of May. That means any bill has to pass the Senate, then the Senate and House would have to negotiate and reach agreement on one bill before it could be sent to the President for his signature. .TSCL is a non-partisan organization which means we work with whomever supports our legislative agenda, regardless of what party they belong to. We look forward to working with the new chairmen and women of the various Senate committees and with the minority members of the committees in achieving our goals. .Reduce the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that beneficiaries receive once they become eligible for benefits. .TSCL feels strongly that Social Security beneficiaries are entitled to transparency and honesty from the federal government, and we believe that Congressman Jones's H.R. 3500 would go a long way in ensuring that. We enthusiastically support the Honesty in CPI Reporting Act, and we look forward to working with Congressman Jones in the coming months to help build support for it. .And third, one new cosponsor – Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) – signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act (S. 2671), bringing the cosponsor total to two. If adopted, S. 2671 would comprehensively strengthen and reform the Social Security program by basing COLAs on the CPI-E, increasing monthly benefits by 2%, creating a new Special Minimum Benefit equal to 125% of the poverty line, providing a tax cut to Social Security beneficiaries, applying the payroll tax to annual income over 0,000, and gradually increasing the payroll tax rate by 0.25%. .You should still delay domestic and international travel. If you do travel, you'll still need to follow CDC requirements and recommendations. .As our nation goes through the process of getting vaccinated for COVID-19 and getting our lives back on track, TSCL is working on a number of long-term issues that await Congressional attention. We expect policy makers in Congress will be turning their attention to the question of boosting benefits and restoring the long-term solvency of the Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds.