News

  • Legislation Would Make It Easier For Low Income Beneficiaries To Qualify For Medicare Assistance

    Initial coverage stage: 4.61 from the lowest-cost drug plan but, as you have discovered, the total cost of the drug is so expensive that you rapidly use up the initial ,820 in the first three months once you factor in the portion that your drug plan pays. .For progress updates or for more information about these and other bills that would strengthen Social Security and Medicare programs, visit the our website at , follow TSCL on Twitter or Facebook. .For information about town hall meetings near you in the days ahead, call the local offices of your elected officials. You can find contact information for your Members of Congress right here. … Continued

  • Two Ways New President Can Improve Social Security Benefits Women

    First, the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act (S. 521, H.R. 141) gained eight new cosponsors in the Senate and the House, bringing the cosponsor totals up to thirty and 165, respectively. The new cosponsors are: Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA), Senator Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Representative Sean Casten (IL-6), Representative Susan Davis (CA-53), Representative Elaine Luria (VA-2), Representative Colin Allred (TX-32), Representative Ed Case (HI-1), and Representative Filemon Vela (TX-34). .The Social Security Administration calculates benefit withholdings based on the amount you report that you will earn for the year, and then will withhold all benefit payments for a certain period of months to cover excess earnings. For example, say you received a Social Security benefit payment of 0 per month in 2007 (,800 for the year). Let's say that during 2007 you worked and earned ,450 or ,490 over the earnings limit (,450 - ,960). Social Security would withhold ,745 in benefit payments covering slightly more than 6 months of your payments. .This is a much longer legislative update than usual but there is a lot of information about the pricing of prescription drugs that we believe is important for you to know and that you might be interested in. … Continued

At Wednesday's hearing, many lawmakers seemed to agree that Congress should begin working seriously towards a long-term plan, but it was clear that there is no consensus on what that plan should look like. One member of the committee, Senator Bob Corker (TN), said he would support a plan similar to the Simpson-Bowles proposal of 2010 that would increase Social Security's age of eligibility and adopt the "chained" CPI, among other things. .Holiday Recess Begins .While more than 47 million citizens of the United States are Medicare beneficiaries, each day 10,000 newly eligible citizens enroll in the Medicare program. And, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund — the fund that pays the Medicare bills — is projected to become exhausted in 202On top of this, the Department of Justice estimates that billion is lost each year from fraud in the Medicare program. .The Senior Citizens League favors legislation that would adjust the thresholds, or repeal the tax altogether and replace it with other sources of revenue. If the thresholds were adjusted to today's dollars the ,000 (single) threshold would be about ,107 and the ,000 (joint) would be about ,097. .Provide dog or cat boarding. If experienced and good at handling dogs and cats, consider giving vouchers for pet sitting services to family or friends who may be traveling. Choose the pets that you know and get along with, consider where the animals will stay, and how well the visiting dog or cat will get along with your animals. .However, experts say the actual cost of living for Social Security beneficiaries is rising and their quality of life is falling. Social Security recipients have lost nearly a fourth of their buying power over the last 15 years, according to the Senior Citizens League. .TSCL enthusiastically supports H.R. 2745, H.R. 3118, and H.R. 1795, and we were pleased to see support grow for each of them this week. .First, one new cosponsor – Representative Mike Bishop (MI-8) – signed on to the Audiology Patient Choice Act (H.R. 2276), bringing the total up to thirty-three. If adopted, H.R. 2276 would improve Medicare coverage for hearing services that are performed by licensed audiologists. Under current law, audiologists are not recognized as providers of health-related hearing services, and the Medicare program will only reimburse them for their services when patients are referred by physicians or nurse practitioners. .Our legislative team was pleased to see the Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act advance out of the Ways and Means Committee this week, and we will be sure to monitor its progress as it moves to the House floor. Leaders expect it to be taken up during the week of June 15th, and it is expected to pass there with bipartisan support as well. For updates on the status of H.R. 1190, visit the Legislative News section of our website.