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  • Dont Make This Common Retirement Mistake Medicare Often Takes One Third To One Half Of Your Social Security Benefit

    Recently we learned of a woman, now in her 80's, who has moved twice in the past decade to be close to her daughter. Her first move was from the family home in Connecticut to an up-scale retirement community in Virginia, and more recently following her daughter to Arizona after her son-in-law's job changed. Her former Virginia home has been sitting on the market for months. That's posing a drain on her resources, adding unanticipated costs for new housing at a time when her need for caregiving services is growing. Her daughter worried that the former facility wasn't handling things well. .The Senior Citizens League agrees with Senator Brown, and we oppose the proposal since it would negatively impact Social Security's finances and the retirement security of future beneficiaries. In the days ahead, Senator Marco Rubio (FL) and Senator Joni Ernst (IA) are expected to introduce the proposal as legislation, and TSCL's legislative team will monitor its movement closely. For updates, follow TSCL on Twitter or visit the Legislative News section of our website. .Early Thursday morning, following a seven-hour voting marathon, lawmakers in the Senate passed a budget resolution that includes instructions for four committees – two in the House and two in the Senate – to craft legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The resolution passed with a vote of 51-48, without the support of any Senate Democrats. While casting her vote, Senator Claire McCaskill (MO) – who serves as the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs – said: "Because there is no replace, I vote no." … Continued

  • Congressional Corner Two Social Security Provisions That Need To Be Fixed

    TSCL supports legislation that would raise the taxable maximum. "TSCL believes that cutting Social Security benefits can't be justified when moderate payroll tax adjustments can keep the system solvent for decades," says TSCL Executive Director Shannon Benton. "Requiring everyone to pay their full share would add years of solvency to the Social Security," Benton says. .The first session of the 113th Congress has just reached the half-way mark, and already, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) has much to show for it. Dozens of key bills have been re-introduced, hundreds of thousands of petitions have been hand-delivered to Congress, TSCL's legislative team and Board of Trustees have met with numerous Members of Congress, and in May, we hosted a successful "Welcome Reception" for new and veteran lawmakers and their top aides. .Indeed, during the 2005 debate over Social Security reform, one of the leading proposals would make changes to the benefit formula similar to those made in 197The proposal would tie the calculation of the initial retirement benefit to changes in price inflation. According to an analysis of a leading proposal by the Congressional Budget Office, when benefits are charted on a graph as shown here, they illustrate a "precipitous decline" in benefits and an all too familiar "V" shaped Notch. … Continued

TSCL enthusiastically supports the bills mentioned above, and we were pleased to see support grow for each of them this week. .Sources: "An 87 Year Old Nun Said She Was Raped In Her Nursing Home. Here's Why She Couldn't Sue," Haley Sweetland Edwards, Time, November 16, 201"House Passes Ban on Forced Arbitration, Class Action Limits, Jaclyn Diaz, Bloomberg Government, September 20, 2019. .The total revenues in the sample could pay the Social Security benefits of 897 retirees, with an average monthly benefit of ,400, for an entire year. Or, that revenue could be used to provide a modest boost to the COLA of 448,560 retirees in the first year, by tying the annual inflation adjustment to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). .The proposal calls for switching to a more slowly-growing consumer price index (CPI), known as the "chained" CPI, to calculate annual COLAs. Chaining is an apt name for it because that's what it would do to benefits — chain them down. .Social Security recipients can look forward to receiving an annual cost – of – living adjustment (COLA) of about 1.8 percent in 2018, according to an estimate released today by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). "A COLA of that amount would make it the highest since 2012 — but even at 1.8 percent, the raise is less than half of the 4 percent that COLAs averaged from 2000-2009," says TSCL's Social Security policy analyst, Mary Johnson. .These higher Medicare Part B premiums in turn contributed to flat growth in Social Security benefits in subsequent years — even when a 2 percent COLA became payable two years later in 201The Medicare Part B premium took the entire 2 percent COLA for about half of all beneficiaries according to a survey by The Senior Citizens League. .TSCL agrees that Congress must act immediately – before next week's October 15th deadline – to prevent the cost increases from occurring. We will be advocating in the days ahead for the passage of the new bills sponsored by Sen. Wyden and Rep. Titus, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website, or on our page on Facebook. .The future of the AHCA remains uncertain in the House, and in the Senate, lawmakers have been even more cautious about its prospects. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (TX) said: "Once [House lawmakers] pass the bill, my assumption is, the Senate's going to take a look at it but not necessarily be rubber-stamping what they're proposing. I would anticipate that we'll do what we used to do all the time which is, the House will pass a bill, we'll pass a bill, and then we'll reconcile those in a conference committee." .The study says the program would have saved 7 million that year if generics had been substituted for all the brand-name medicines requested by prescribers. Additionally, if Medicare patients had sought generics instead of brand-name drugs, Medicare Part D would have saved another 3 million.