News

  • Benefit Bulletin September 2018

    Democrats want to be able to pass President Biden's economic stimulus/COVID-19 relief bill, but it is highly unlikely they could get 10 Republicans to vote for the bill. .If I received the ,000 Lump-Sum Settlement, would I then lose my monthly Social Security check? Would the amount of the check be raised to the level that it should have been all along? .Need more help? Free one-on-one counseling is available through State Health Insurance Programs (SHIP). To get contact info for your area visit http://shiptacenter.org. … Continued

  • Press Release 1 28 20

    Unlike the temporary payroll tax cuts, which wouldn't affect Social Security's finances, the diversion of Social Security contributions into private accounts would substantially reduce the amount of money available to pay current beneficiaries. This "privatization" of Social Security contributions would drain the Social Security Trust Fund in short order and require the transfer of TRILLIONS of dollars from the U.S. Treasury into the Social Security Trust Fund in the coming decades to continue paying current benefits. .Budget Committee Debates Future of DI Program .According to the report, CMS has not expanded the recovery audit program to Medicare Advantage by the end of 2010 as was required by the Patient Protection Act. Recovery audits have been used for years in other Medicare programs to recover improper payments. TSCL believes Congress must provide stronger oversight to ensure that scarce Medicare dollars are spent appropriately and to prevent private insurers from boosting profits by gauging both taxpayers and older Americans. … Continued

The only order of business was a resolution which "condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific attack which occurred." The resolution was passed unanimously. The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) offers its condolences to the victims, friends, and families of those who were murdered or injured and wishes every surviving victim a speedy and successful recovery. .The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith (D-Wash.) has announced that if the bill is vetoed the House will come back into session over the holidays and vote to override. .Medicare's Trustees reported in April that the Part A Trust Fund, which covers hospital insurance and inpatient care, would run out of money by 202That estimate, however, does not factor in the impact of the coronavirus on the program. New estimates are coming in that the pandemic could cause the Part A Trust Fund to become insolvent much sooner. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a group of nonpartisan budget experts focused on fiscal policy, estimates that the pandemic will cause Medicare Part A to run low in 2023 or 2024 —as little as two to three years from now. .Have You Been Fully Vaccinated? .According to Mr. Brune, SSA is making several organizational and technology-driven improvements that will lead to an increase in fraud detection. The administration is currently expanding its successful Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) program, which prevents benefit payments from being made in cases where fraud is detected. The CDI program is operating in thirty-three states this year, and it is expected to expand to the remaining seventeen states by 202Mr. Brune said, "Chairman Johnson and this Subcommittee have long championed this CDI program, and we thank you for that support." .Finally, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2017 (H.R.1205) gained two new cosponsors in Representative Walter Jones (NC-3) and Representative Tony Cardenas (CA-29), bringing the cosponsor total to 17If signed into law, H.R. 1205 would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) – two Social Security provisions that unfairly reduce the earned benefits of millions of teachers, police officers, and other public servants each year. .According to a report in The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper, "There are further administrative steps that need to happen before the proposal will actually take effect and result in lower drug prices. The secretary of Health and Human Services will have to issue the details of the proposal, and there will be an array of questions as to how the policy will work in practice. .According to the Urban Institute, parents who take paid leave one time would see a 3.2 percent cut in their future Social Security benefits, and parents who take paid leave two times would see a benefit cut of around 5.5 percent. Those who take four paid leaves would see permanent Social Security benefit cuts of around 10 percent in retirement. .Chen cited two international flights from earlier stages of the pandemic where infection rates varied depending on mask use. On the first flight, no passengers were wearing masks, and a single passenger infected 14 people as the plane traveled from London to Hanoi, Vietnam. On the second flight, from Singapore to Hangzhou in China, all passengers were wearing face masks. Although 15 passengers were Wuhan residents with either suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, the only man infected en route had loosened his mask mid-flight and had been sitting close to four Wuhan residents who later tested positive for the virus.