News

  • Social Security Disability Close To Insolvency

    This is good news. While we have disagreements with some doctors over things like surprise medical billings, this year has taught us how critical and valuable to us all are our medical personnel. This certainly was no time to try to balance the budget on the backs of those who have borne the weight of so many of us this year. .Many social and economic factors work against women who are family caregivers and mothers that can lower their Social Security benefits. The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) believes that lawmakers can and should be doing more to improve this. .For progress updates or for more information about these and other bills that would strengthen Social Security and Medicare programs, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website or follow TSCL on Twitter. … Continued

  • H R 1517 Social Security And Medicare Lock Box Act

    By the time the Inspector General has performed its audit reports and given CMS its recommendations, CMS has limited, if any, time to collect before the statute of limitation expires. The OIG recommends that CMS should pursue legislation to extend the statute of limitations so that the recovery period exceeds the reopening period for Medicare payments. In addition, the OIG recommends that CMS develop a system to verify that the amount reported collected has actually been collected. TSCL heartily supports these commonsense recommendations. With Congress debating a major Medicare overhaul that would make seniors pay a higher portion of Medicare costs in the future, Congress should move quickly to close the statute of limitation loophole that's costing us millions in lost recoveries. .However, in tough economic times, our seniors — many of whom live on fixed incomes — get hit the hardest. From increasing medical expense costs to the rising cost of living, our seniors are facing greater economic insecurities. This is why we must protect Social Security from cuts and work to lower medical costs for this generation and the generations to come. .In December — just before the 115th Congress came to a close — The Senior Citizens League's (TSCL's) Board of Trustees member and Legislative Liaison Joe Kluck traveled to Capitol Hill to thank lawmakers who sponsored key legislation that would strengthen and protect the Social Security program for current and future beneficiaries. … Continued

Today's seniors have spent a lifetime paying into benefit programs like Social Security. They did so under the assumption that those programs' benefits will be there for them when they need them. All too frequently, though, illegal immigrants are reaping benefits without first paying their fair share into the program, and those who paid into Social Security fear that expected benefits will not be available when the time comes. .We encourage all Medicare beneficiaries, who wish to have the legal right to import less costly FDA-approved prescription drugs, to contact your Members of Congress. Ask them to pass the Pharmaceutical Market Access legislation, H.R. 328 (House) and S. 334 (Senate). .In addition, twelve new cosponsors signed on to the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act (H.R. 242) this week, bringing the total up to twenty-nine. The new cosponsors are: Representatives Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Thomas Suozzi (NY-3), John Sarbanes (MD-3), Peter DeFazio (OR-4), Chellie Pingree (ME-1), Brad Sherman (CA-30), Peter Visclosky (IN-1), Earl Blumenauer (OR-3), Tulsi Gabbard (HI-2), Jared Huffman (CA-2), Dave Loebsack (IA-2), and Jamie Raskin (MD-8). .Medicare Part B enrollees who don't receive Social Security benefits. This includes people who have delayed the start of Social Security and all people who are billed for Medicare. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2013 about half of all people on Medicare who don't receive Social Security yet had incomes below ,000. .The Senior Citizens League is opposed to any payroll tax cut which would remove the major portion of Medicare Part A hospital insurance funding. That's money today's beneficiaries paid into the system during their working careers, and the same funds are needed today to reimburse hospital services for today's patients. .Obamacare is not the first government program in which major implementation glitches had disastrous consequences for large numbers of beneficiaries. In 1977 changes that Congress made to the Social Security benefit formula created a major inequity in benefits that cost retirees tens of thousands of dollars in Social. Seventeen Co-sponsors for The Notch Fairness Act While Congress has been holding hearings and considering changes to Social Security, TSCL has been successful in gaining co-sponsors for The Notch Fairness Act. The bill, introduced in the House and Senate by Representative Mike McIntyre (NC-17) and Senator David Vitter (LA), would provide Notch Babies born from 1917 through 1926 their choice of ,000 paid. Risk of Deeper Benefit Cuts When Congress Waits The Notch Fairness Act In House And Senate .This unexpected policy adjustment is largely attributable to the 6 billion in cuts to Medicare that Obamacare calls for. More than one-fifth of the cuts – approximately 6 billion – are to the Medicare Advantage program, which insures more than one-quarter of all seniors over the age of sixty-five. It's important to note that the savings from the cuts are not going back into the Medicare Trust Fund; instead, the money is going to help pay for the health insurance of younger, working adults under Obamacare. .This week, key legislators revealed that they will not pass a permanent repeal of Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula before the March 31st deadline. .CMS said in a press release that this change is to provide patients and their doctors more options and to lower costs by promoting more competition among hospitals and independent surgical centers. But while these surgeries will be removed from the inpatient-only list, the government did not approve any of them to be performed anywhere else. Patients will still have to get care at hospitals but, because these services have been reclassified, they will be billed under Medicare Part B as outpatient services, instead of Medicare Part A for hospital services. Medicare beneficiaries pay a bigger share of the costs under Part B, than under Part A for an inpatient stay, and those costs would also drive up Medicare Part B premiums in the future.