News

  • What It Looks Like To Live On Just Social Security Its Not Pretty

    In 1988, a report by the former U. S. General Accounting Office, now the Government Accountability Office (GAO), cited an example of two sisters who started working at the same book bindery, on the same day, in October 195Audrey was born in March 1916, and Edith in June of 191The two had almost identical lifetime earnings. The younger sister Edith (born 1917) received a monthly benefit of 2.60, 1.80 less than her older sister Audrey (born 1916), who received 4.40 per month. .Medicare Advantage plans contract with Medicare to provide all basic Medicare services, and plans receive monthly lump sum payments that cover expected costs for an average Medicare beneficiary. But officials have known for years that some Medicare Advantage plans overbill the government by exaggerating how sick their patients are, or by charging Medicare for treating serious medical conditions that they cannot prove that patients have. Audits of 37 health plans revealed that, on average, auditors could confirm only 60% of the more than 20,000 medical conditions that CMS paid plans to treat. .TSCL is carefully monitoring these recommendations and believes they would be financially punitive to seniors who are depending on Medigap supplements to provide a more secure retirement. … Continued

  • 2020 Senior Survey

    The average CEO in the sample would pay enough Social Security revenues to cover the entire benefit of 45 retirees with an average benefit of ,800 for a year, or, boost the COLA of 22,428 retirees with average benefits in the first year. .The Senior Citizens League's surveys in 2020 asked about support for currently debated proposals to change Social Security and Medicare benefits. The five top areas of consensus include the following: .The Senior Citizens League has prepared a new fact sheet to help the public better understand how immigration changes by executive action may affect Social Security and Medicare. Get it here. … Continued

Last week, in a last ditch attempt to try and come up with new legislation, Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Meadows met with the leaders of the House and Senate see if they could reach a compromise. They could not. One of the big reasons was the overall cost of the legislation and in the amount of money that would be given to those who are unemployed because of the pandemic. .Sources: "Issues and Challenges In Measuring And Improving The Quality Of Health Care," The Congressional Budget Office, December 201"What Is Value-Based Healthcare?" NEJM Catalyst, January 1, 201"After Single Payer Failed, Vermont Embarks On A Big Health Care Experiment," Carolyn Johnson, The Washington Post, September 17, 2017. .This week, lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill and those in the House passed legislation that will reduce prescription drug costs at pharmacies. In addition, the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee met to discuss information technology within the Social Security program, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) saw two key bills gain support. .SSA Reports Massive DI Overpayments .Please help us continue our important work on behalf of senior citizens and retirees. Make a secure, online donation today. .The federal government could, for example, invoke a never-before-used power called "march-in rights," through which it can override a patent holder's rights if it doesn't make its medicines "available to the public on reasonable terms." (Unfortunately, in already-signed agreements with BARDA, some drug makers have explicitly watered down or eliminated that proviso.) .The Senate, where Republicans hold the majority, has yet to make a decision as to whether to defer taxes for its employees. .A California physician ordered 115 Schedule II drugs (the class at highest risk for addiction) for just one beneficiary in 200Medicare paid 5,711. .Johnson says that the federal government is looking at the wrong market basket to determine the annual change in prices in the goods and services used by retired and disabled Americans. According to Johnson, had the government used a more appropriate inflation index that measures costs experienced by people age 62 and older, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), retirees would get a COLA of 2.1 percent instead of 0.3 percent in 201"But instead, the COLA is based on the increased price of goods normally purchased by younger working adults," she notes.