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    Catastrophic Coverage Period: When your total out-of-pocket spending reaches ,350, you hit the catastrophic stage of coverage. Your co-insurance drops to 5% coinsurance or co-pays of .60 generic, .95 brand, whichever is higher. You remain in the Catastrophic coverage period until December 31, 2020. .For the last few weeks we have reported on President Trump's executive order to allow employers to defer payroll taxes owed by workers, which funds Social Security and Medicare. TSCL is opposed to payroll tax cuts of any kind because they seriously jeopardize the financial viability of both programs. .According to The Senior Citizens League's research, Social Security benefits have lost 34 percent of their purchasing power since 2000 due in large part to inadequate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) and rising health care costs. … Continued

  • Fate Of Lowering Drug Prices Is Up In The Air

    Lawmakers from both the House and Senate remained in their home states and districts this week to continue the month-long August recess. They are expected to return to Washington on September 5th, following the Labor Day holiday. .I care deeply about guaranteeing that all Americans have access to food, regardless of their income. That is why I introduced this bill. .TSCL's surveys have found that moving Medicare Part D to a pricing system that has similarities with Medicaid has strong support among older adults. Seventy percent of those who participated in our 2019 Senior Survey support allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for prescription drugs using a similar system to Medicaid's. … Continued

Newly Eligible People with Medicare .For more information about these and other bills that would reduce prescription drug prices, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. For progress updates, follow The Senior Citizens League on Twitter. .Look, nobody gets wealthy off of Social Security. It's a subsistence level program. .This week, lawmakers in both chambers voted to approve a temporary spending bill to fund the government past September 30th. In addition, The Senior Citizens League's (TSCL's) legislative team met with several Members of Congress and their aides, and two key bills gained support. .One new cosponsor also signed on to the Strengthening Social Security Act (H.R. 3118), bringing the total up fifty-six. The new cosponsor is Rep. Chellie Pingree (ME-1). If signed into law, the bill would reform the Social Security program in three ways: it would adjust the benefit formula, resulting in more generous monthly benefits; it would adopt the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E), resulting in more accurate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), and it would lift the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. The bill would extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund responsibly, without cutting benefits for seniors. .Instead, that money has gone into the pockets of the wealthy. Now Republicans want to cut benefits for hard - working Americans. They want to harm the most vulnerable among us, including manufacturing a crisis to put disabled Americans at risk of facing a nearly 20% cut in benefits, even while they provide more tax breaks for the wealthy and for corporations. .What is it going to cost? Is there a less expensive alternative? .Support Grows for Notch Fairness Act .The TSCL report which contains Social Security Administration (SSA) data from 1937 through 2013, includes the following findings: