News

  • Social Security Disability Close To Insolvency

    Fraud, waste and abuse are costing taxpayers and seniors an estimated billion a year, but Medicare fails to recover overpayments about 80 percent of the time. The Inspector General recently said that of the 6,287,546 in overpayments identified through the 30-month period ending March 31, 2009, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reported collecting only ,168,50But it gets even worse. The OIG said that it could not verify that the ,168,502 had been collected as reported because CMS did not have an adequate system for documenting overpayment collections. .The temporary funding measure negotiated this week is expected to buy time for President-elect Donald Trump and members of the 115th Congress to negotiate a broad funding bill that will likely include language to fast-track the Affordable Care Act's repeal. In the months ahead, TSCL's legislative team will be following these discussions closely, and we will continue to advocate for legislation that would reduce any negative effects on beneficiaries of the Medicare program. Visit the Legislative News section of our website for updates. .Proxy voting allows a member of the House to give to another member the right to cast a vote on his or her behalf. The member authorizing the proxy will stipulate how the vote should be cast and the member casting the proxy vote is required to abide by the wishes of the member granting the proxy. … Continued

  • Biden Proposes Major Changes To Government Health Care Programs

    Funding concerns are one of the key reasons TSCL is relieved SSA has decided to remove the text requirement from the login process. Without online access, more seniors than ever would have been relying on their local Social Security offices, and under-staffed offices would surely have been overwhelmed with requests. ."We found consistently high U.S. brand-name prices regardless of our methodological decisions," said Mulcahy, a senior health policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. .Can Home Health Agencies Provide Rebates? … Continued

The Social Security Safety Dividend Act (H.R. 67), introduced in the House by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), would give Social Security beneficiaries a 0 payment during years in which no cost-of-living adjustment is payable. If signed into law, it would provide much-needed financial support to older Americans in years like 2016, when there was no COLA. In a letter of endorsement, Art Cooper – TSCL's Chairman – wrote: "Years of record-low COLAs will have a devastating impact on the long-term adequacy of Social Security benefits for more than 59 million beneficiaries … Your bill would go a long way in ensuring the retirement security older Americans have earned and deserve." .Congressional inaction on the debt ceiling is a growing concern of TSCL's for several reasons. If a default on the federal debt occurs, Social Security benefits would likely be delayed, and millions of seniors living on fixed incomes would suffer financially. In addition, doctors who treat Medicare patients would likely see postponements in their reimbursements from the federal government, and access to quality medical care would be jeopardized for beneficiaries. .Participants in The Senior Citizens League's surveys indicate that household medical expenses consume a significant portion of their monthly income. More than 39 percent of respondents to a recent survey say that they spend more than 0 per month on Medicare and other healthcare costs. In 2020, the average Social Security benefit is ,460, but the 1.6 percent COLA raised the average Social Security benefit by only .40 per month this year. The following chart illustrates ten of the fastest growing retiree costs since 2000. .To shop and switch to a new Medicare Advantage health plan, visit www.Medicare.gov and click on the link to "Find health and drug plans." View the videos supplied to help you learn how to use the tool. If you feel you need more help, free one-on-one counseling is available through State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIP) that operate through many local area agencies on aging. To find the agency in your area, try the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-111To learn more about Medicare, visit MedicareInteractive.org, an online tool that can answer your Medicare questions, created and maintained by the Medicare Rights Center. .The value of my 401(k) fell in March of this year and still hasn't fully recovered. I turned 70 in April. Will I be forced to sell investments at a loss in order to withdraw the required minimum amount? .That report estimates the Social Security trust fund could be depleted by 2030, five years earlier than the official government estimate, because of the recession and long-term near-zero interest rates triggered by the pandemic. .Something does need to happen. Seniors haven't received any cost of living adjustment (COLA) over the past two years — an unprecedented situation that hasn't occurred since the annual benefit adjustments began in the 1970's. At the same time, the cost of healthcare, petroleum products, and most recently, food and other consumer goods, are taking big jumps, eroding the purchasing power of benefits. .Unlike other types of health insurance, Part D plans do not have a fixed annual out-of-pocket maximum, and you could potentially continue to spend even more than ,100 this year. While that's a huge sum for just prescription drugs, the out-of-pocket threshold "re-sets" and it starts all over again next year. Unless Congress takes action, the out-of-pocket threshold is scheduled to make a steep increase in 2020 to ,250, due to an expiring provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. .This week, lawmakers remained in their home states and districts for the two-week spring recess.