News

  • Legislative Update Week Ending August 24 2018

    Depending on your health, it might be to your advantage to start unemployment benefits and delay taking Social Security right away. Allow several months to search for a new job. The longer you can postpone starting Social Security, the higher your benefit will be. In addition, should you find a good job and start working again, your Social Security benefits could be reduced by excess earnings. If you are under your full retirement age you may earn ,480 in 2014 (,290 per month) before Social Security would withhold in benefits for every over that amount. .,000 Notch Fairness Act Reintroduced .Alexandria, VA (April 5, 2011) Congress is considering three major deficit reduction proposals that would make seniors pay even more for their Medicare than they do now. The debate over federal spending on Medicare is occurring at the same time a majority of seniors are reporting higher out-of-pocket Medicare costs, according to a new survey by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), one of the nation's largest nonpartisan seniors groups. Retirees received no annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in both 2010 and 2011, leaving them with less Social Security income to cover much higher monthly bills. About 47 percent of respondents report receiving lower Social Security payments this year, and more than 60 percent said their overall monthly expenses had increased or more. … Continued

  • Issues Cola Track Bills

    Social Security's Disability Insurance program is littered with waste. Last year, for example, .8 billion in overpayments were made to those collecting disability benefits. In addition, the administration has allowed an enormous backlog to accumulate for Continuing Disability Reviews, which are conducted to determine whether a beneficiary has recovered enough to return to work. Currently, every dollar spent reviewing cases yields more than ten dollars in savings; if the backlog were eliminated, more than billion in savings would be returned to the Trust Fund. The potential savings from eliminating waste within Social Security are enormous and could cover the cost of the Notch Fairness Act. Second, Congress could increase the amount of income subject to the Social Security payroll tax – an option that sixty-seven percent of TSCL members strongly supported in this year's Senior Survey. Currently, yearly income earned above 0,100 is not subject to the payroll tax. .Another major concern for those at the hearings was that the IPAB might inadvertently ration care. The law explicitly prohibits this, but many fear that without clarifying the definition of "rationing," there will likely be many discrepancies in the future. Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA) pointed out that what one calls rationing, another might simply consider reducing costs. .First, one new cosponsor – Representative Conor Lamb (PA-18) – signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 1902), bringing the total up to 17If adopted, H.R. 1902 would strengthen Social Security benefits by improving the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), increasing monthly benefits by 2 percent, creating a new Special Minimum Benefit equal to 125 percent of the poverty line, and providing a tax cut to millions of Social Security beneficiaries. To cover the cost of these changes and to extend the solvency of the program through the year 2100, it would apply the payroll tax to annual income over 0,000 and gradually increase the payroll tax rate by 0.25 percent. … Continued

By Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) .Three Ways Congress Can Pay For Notch Reform .Use call block technology. If you have a smart phone, you can block calls from unknown numbers. Some land line phones also have similar technology. .Lawmakers at Wednesday's Budget Committee hearing discussed potential solutions to the solvency challenge, including the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 860), introduced by Congressman John Larson (CT-1) and cosponsored by more than 200 House lawmakers. Congressman Larson, who testified before the committee members on Wednesday, outlined his Social Security reform proposal in detail. .In a recent high profile Medicare fraud takedown, actor and entrepreneur Roberto F. Marrero, who played bits parts on Miami Vice, America's Most Wanted, and Unsolved Mysteries, was arrested for massive Medicare fraud. Marrero, who became a Medicare-licensed healthcare provider in 2007, is accused of submitting million in bogus bills for supplying purported home healthcare services for diabetic patients. .To help protect the buying power of benefits, TSCL supports legislation that would provide a modest boost in benefits, base COLAs on the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) and guarantee a COLA no lower than 3 percent. To learn more, visit . .In addition, the Social Security 2100 Act would improve the program's solvency by applying the payroll tax to income over 0,000 and by gradually increasing the payroll tax rate from 6.2 percent to 7.4 percent – an extra fifty cents per week for the average worker. These two modest changes would ensure that the Social Security program remains solvent through the year 2100 and beyond. .Individuals with incomes below ,000, and whose Part B premiums are automatically deducted from their Social Security benefits, are protected from a reduction in their Social Security benefits when Part B premiums increase more than their Social Security benefits. The provision was triggered twice in recent years, in 2016 when there was no COLA, and in 2017 when the COLA was just 0.3%. .As we foresaw last week, Congress was not able to finish its work by the end of the day last Friday and had to pass two continuing resolutions (CR) in order to give themselves more time. The current CR runs through next Monday, the 28th.