News

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending May 13 2016

    Budgeting for changes in health as we age is a challenge. What we can do, though, is give you some pointers in estimating your current costs and setting a healthcare cost budget. .For those planning retirement however, it is the estimated dollar amount in Social Security benefits, not the replacement rate, that what one uses to determine a retirement budget, or how much more one will need to save for retirement. When one retires, it is the actual benefit amount, not the replacement rate that one must live on. One of the most frequent requests for services received by Social Security Administration is for an estimate of benefits. While no promises of benefits are made, millions of estimates are made annually. If the rules are changed abruptly, as they were for those born during the Notch period, this leaves no time to save for the shortfalls in benefits (if they can be foreseen ahead of time). .In addition, the budget proposal includes more than 0 billion in cuts to Medicare providers, including hospitals, post-acute care providers, skilled nursing facilities, and pharmaceutical companies. According to the White House, these cuts would add five years to the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund, but TSCL has concerns about how they would affect seniors' access to quality medical care. … Continued

  • Legislative Update January 2014

    That spells trouble for people living on fixed incomes. "When COLAs fall down on the job of protecting benefit buying power, seniors face working longer, digging deeper into retirement savings, or falling into debt and poverty," says Ed Cates, Chairman of TSCL. .First, in the spring, Members of Congress passed legislation to repeal and replace the sustainable growth rate (SGR) – a flawed formula that set payment rates for doctors who treated Medicare patients. Because of the quirks in the law, doctors were faced with double-digit cuts year after year. Some stopped seeing new Medicare patients, and some even stopped participating in Medicare altogether. TSCL advocated for the SGR's repeal for more than a decade, and we were ecstatic to see it replaced once and for all last April. The law took effect immediately and, in the coming years, it will bring increased stability to the Medicare program for both patients and their doctors. .Now, it turns out, AbbVie is helping to fund ads attacking legislation that would lower prescription drug costs. … Continued

I'm helping my mother shop for an assisted living facility. She's considering one within reasonable driving distance, but a clause in the paperwork stipulates that she must agree to mandatory arbitration to settle any disputes. Can you explain the pros and cons of this? .The fall recess continued this week, and Members of the House and Senate remained in their home states and districts to prepare for the upcoming elections, which will occur on Tuesday, November 4th. They are expected to return to Washington following the elections for a "lame duck" session. .Throughout the remainder of the 113th Congress, TSCL will continue to urge Members of Congress to pass the Social Security Fairness Act since we believe strongly that it would go far in ensuring the retirement security of millions of seniors. To aid us in our efforts, we encourage you to contact your elected officials to request their support for S. 896 and H.R. 1795. .Lawmakers Work to Avoid Government Shutdown .Home care, though, is much cheaper, overall. The yearly average cost, per person, of a nursing home to Medicaid is ,000 compared with ,000 for home care workers, according to one expert. .Near the end of this past November President Trump issued two rules aimed at lowering prescription drug prices that affect Medicare beneficiaries. The rules followed up on executive orders that Trump signed in July. .Senate Committees Question OMB Nominee .It's clear that Congress has failed mature workers and their families. We need to do more to create jobs and ensure mature workers have the skills needed for today's job market. .The legislative proposal also does not specify whether the locality pay adjustment would be applied in addition to the COLA or used instead of a COLA. If the intention is to add a second adjustment in addition to the COLA my guess is that many retirees would welcome the additional boost. Should the proposal be intended to replace the COLA that brings a higher level of uncertainty to the annual adjustments than we already experience. For people who live in areas where private sector pay is on an even level with federal pay or lower, those retirees may wind up with little or no locality pay adjustment, perhaps over the course of many years.