News

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending May 16 2014

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently began a review of all pending immigration deportation cases with the goal of dismissing those of illegal immigrants with no criminal records. TSCL is concerned that the policy, which would scale back deportations of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, could potentially add hundreds of billions in new costs to the growing deficit problems of Social Security, SSI, Medicare and Medicaid. .43% support very gradually increasing the Social Security payroll tax rate paid by employers and employees. .For updates on our efforts, visit the Legislative News section of our website, or our new page on Facebook. … Continued

  • Legislative Update May 2015

    Although many older Americans continue to face challenges as they approach retirement, Congress can and should do more to ensure that no retiring American needs to worry about making ends meet. .It would: boost monthly Social Security benefits by 2 percent, improve the adequacy of the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, create a new minimum benefit set at 125 percent of the poverty line, and cut taxes for millions of beneficiaries. To cover the cost of these benefit enhancements and extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Funds for decades to come, it would also apply the payroll tax to income over 0,000 and gradually increase the payroll tax rate from 6.2 percent to 7.4 percent. .The federal government negotiates prescription drug prices for Medicaid and for veterans, but it is not allowed to negotiate lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. Do you support that policy? … Continued

TSCL continues to support re-importation of drugs more than general importation of drugs made in other countries. And, while we also support imported medicines made in other countries, we strongly insist that the drugs be certified to be sure they are pure and contain only the ingredients they are supposed to have. .This week, lawmakers on the House Budget Committee approved a fiscal 2017 budget resolution after weeks of negotiations, and The Senior Citizens League's (TSCL's) Board of Trustees met with several Members of Congress on Capitol Hill to discuss critical Social Security issues. .Senate Subcommittee Considers Family Leave Proposal .The new cards will have unique, randomly-assigned numbers called a Medicare Beneficiary. Benefit Bulletin: June 2016 Can You Identify Medicare Fraud In This Story? .The uncertainty of Senate passage of the new legislation to waive the cuts to Medicare comes about because of the 2010 Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act, which requires across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration, to "mandatory" programs if any new legislation increases the deficit. .Most of the overpayments – nearly 40 percent – went to those who began working or had a positive change in income. Another 24 percent of the overpayments went to those who had a medical improvement and no longer qualified. Around 7.5 percent of the overpayments went to those who became imprisoned, and 7.2 percent went to deceased beneficiaries. According to the report, the agency was able to recover approximately .1 billion in overpayments. .Social Security recipients who have contacted The Senior Citizens League overwhelmingly feel that a higher COLA would be long overdue. They say that the COLA doesn't come close to keeping up with their actual cost increases. When prices rise rapidly at the same time that retirees are receiving a very low COLA, as is the case in 2021, this shortfall can produce long-term impacts on retirement income, and even health, when retired households without adequate retirement savings run short of cash before the month is over. "In email after email, we are hearing that people are cutting their spending on prescriptions and groceries because that's the last things they have left to cut," says Johnson. The Senior Citizens League works to strengthen Social Security benefits and the COLA. .Cutting the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) by switching to a more slowly rising measure of inflation – the "chained" Consumer Price Index (CPI) – is currently one of the most popular deficit reduction proposals on the table. Backed by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle – including President Obama – proponents are calling it a small "technical correction." But "chaining" the COLA would compound over the course of a retirement and, after ten years, it would amount to an per month benefit cut for the average retired married couple – an amount that most seniors simply cannot afford to lose. .If our annual COLA works as intended, this should not happen.