News

  • Legislative Update Week Ending December 16 2016

    Alexandria, VMore than 62.5 million seniors, as well as recipients of other federal benefits, may be at high risk of not receiving any cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year, according to a new forecast from The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a nonpartisan seniors organization. Based on the government's most recent inflation data over the past 12 months, growth in the consumer price index is so low that, should the trend continue through the third quarter of the year, inflation would be about 2% lower than the same period last year. "That would mean no COLA would be payable in 2015," says TSCL Chairman, Ed Cates. "Although a lot can happen between now and then," Cates notes, "TSCL anticipates that the buying power of benefits will be impacted." .Please join us in our drive to gather 100,000 signatures on a petition to the White House by clicking Here to sign our petition or by pasting this into your address bar: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/stop-calling-payroll-tax-cuts-and-preserve-social-security-and-medicare .Deficit hawks on Capitol Hill agree that the current inflation index is inaccurate, but instead of adopting a method that actually measures seniors' spending, many have been advocating for an index that would further trim COLAs. The "chained" CPI has been lauded by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle – including President Obama – as a small technical correction that would factor in the substitution that occurs when the prices of certain goods increase. However, since medical care – a major expense for seniors – cannot be substituted for something cheaper, this index would unfairly affect them. After ten years, adopting the "chained" CPI would result in an monthly benefit cut for the average retired couple, and that loss would continue to compound. … Continued

  • Benefit Bulletin August 2016

    To receive benefits on your ex-spouse's record, you must be unmarried, and your ex-spouse must be entitled to a Social Security retirement or disability benefit. But don't try to take it sooner than age 66, or you will lock in a permanent reduction for your own retirement benefit, even if you take it later. .By making decisions now before her health changes, your sister can have more choices and a better chance of telling you "she only wished she would have moved sooner." Doing this together may have you saying the same thing. .On Wednesday, the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee held a hearing focusing on a number of Medicare provider payment provisions that are set to expire at the end of this year. The Subcommittee heard from an expert panel of witnesses, which included Richard Umbdenstock, President of the American Hospital Association, and Robert Wah, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the American Medical Association. … Continued

Second, four new cosponsors signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 915, H.R. 1205), bringing the cosponsor total up to twenty-seven in the Senate and 190 in the House. The new cosponsors are: Senator Patty Murray (WA), Senator Tom Udall (NM), Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), and Representative Vicky Hartzler (MO-4). If adopted, the Social Security Fairness Act would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) – two provisions that unfairly reduce the earned Social Security benefits of millions of teachers, police officers, and other state and local government employees each year. .The legislation would provide a ,000 settlement payable in four annual installments of ,250 or an improved monthly benefit for Notch Babies born 1917 through 1926 or survivors who receive benefits on their account. .Social Security has a .8 trillion surplus, enough to pay full benefits for 18 years, but income inequality has hurt Social Security's finances by leaving most of the wealthiest Americans' earnings above the cutoff point for the payroll tax which funds it. A Wall Street CEO who makes million per year pays no more in payroll tax than someone earning 8,500. If we had the same level of economic equality we enjoyed in 1983, the retirement trust fund would have another .1 trillion in it today. .According to an article in The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper that covers legislative matters in Congress, it just might happen. .The House-passed bill eliminates the medical expense deduction, which approximately 5 million taxpayers over the age of sixty-five rely upon when their out-of-pocket medical costs total more than 10 percent of their annual income. The elimination of this deduction would be a catastrophic financial loss for those who find themselves in need of costly in-home or nursing home care. Congressman Kevin Brady (TX-8) – the chairman of the bicameral conference committee – said this week that he hopes to keep the deduction in place, but discussions remain up in the air. .The authors of the study concluded that unless the overall trend stabilizes or is reversed, or high cost-to-claim drugs are addressed, this trend will place an increasing burden on the neurologic Medicare budget. .The Supplemental Poverty Measure reflects out-of-pocket medical spending and adjusts for the cost of living depending on where you live which are not taken into account by the official poverty measure. Here are some key findings from the analysis: .On Thursday, a group of four Senators – Rand Paul (KY), Mike Lee (UT), Lindsey Graham (SC), and Jim DeMint (SC) – unveiled a major new plan to transition Medicare enrollees into the same health care program offered to employees of the federal government, including Members of Congress. According to the group, the plan will "provide Medicare patients with the best health care in America and will forever protect seniors' interests by aligning them with self-interested politicians." .The news came from preliminary findings from Oxford University, a co-developer of the vaccine. The research could also bring scientists closer to an answer to one of the big questions about the vaccination drive: Will the vaccines curb the spread of the coronavirus?