News

  • No Support Among Seniors For Likely Disability Trust Fund Fix

    During his campaign for President, and several times since, he has promised that he would protect Social Security and Medicare. Yet a payroll tax cut would result in untold damage to the stability of both programs and bring them dangerously close to insolvency. .Are there any plans without an annual maximum? These plans fall into two main types, dental health maintenance organizations (DHMO), and discount dental plans. A DHMO will require you to use in network dentists, and to get referrals from your dentist when you need a specialist. You pay nothing extra when you receive preventive services that are covered by your plan premium. There are also discount dental plans that negotiate discounted rates with a network of dentists. Patients get discounts at dentist's office, but pay their dentists directly at the time of service. There is no waiting period for this type of plan. .Social Security recipients, on the other hand, wouldn't have received anything during that period because the price inflation, as measured by the government's Consumer Price Index for Workers (CPI-W), fell and was not high enough for a COLA to be payable at all until January of this year. The projected Congressional COLA for 2013 is 1.1% and that would equal an extra ,900 if it takes effect, resulting in an annual salary of 5,900. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently projected that seniors would receive a 1.3% COLA in 201If the CBO is correct, the COLA would only raise average annual Social Security benefits about 9, from ,200 in 2012 to ,389 in 201There's a widespread misconception that Members of Congress don't pay into Social Security. That's not true. They do — but not on all of their salary. … Continued

  • Social Security Announces 1 3 Cola For 2021 One Of Lowest Ever Paid

    For those planning retirement however, it is the estimated dollar amount in Social Security benefits, not the replacement rate, that what one uses to determine a retirement budget, or how much more one will need to save for retirement. When one retires, it is the actual benefit amount, not the replacement rate that one must live on. One of the most frequent requests for services received by Social Security Administration is for an estimate of benefits. While no promises of benefits are made, millions of estimates are made annually. If the rules are changed abruptly, as they were for those born during the Notch period, this leaves no time to save for the shortfalls in benefits (if they can be foreseen ahead of time). .Traveling Is Still a Danger .No change to 401(k)s or IRAs: Prior to enactment, concerns were high that tax reform would restrict the amount of pretax contributions working people could make to workplace retirement accounts. Congress did not do this, and the tax rules affecting these accounts, for the most part, remain the same. … Continued

TSCL is highly concerned that the projected decline in Social Security revenues, along with the expected .5 trillion drop in general revenues caused by recent tax cuts, will create growing pressures to cut federal spending on benefits. The most frequently discussed changes include raising the eligibility age for benefits, imposing means testing, and slowing the growth of the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) by tying the annual boost to the more slowly-growing chained consumer price index. .The plan would reform the tax code by consolidating the six existing brackets into three, and by setting the corporate tax rate at an even 28 percent. It would also make some major modifications to Medicare, including a repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate for physician payments, and a strengthening of the controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board. The proposal also includes a plan to restore Social Security to 75-year solvency by raising the retirement age, increasing the taxable maximum wage cap, and adopting a Chained Consumer Price Index, among other things. .On Tuesday – three months later – a panel of three judges rejected the Obama administration's request in a 2-1 decision. They ruled that the state of Texas does have the legal standing to challenge President Obama's executive orders since implementing them will be costly to the state. .Congress Adjourns for Thanksgiving Break .TSCL's annual survey of senior costs indicates that Social Security benefits have lost more than 34% of their buying power since 2000 because the current inflation measure, the Consumer Price Index for Workers (CPI-W) doesn't accurately account for the larger share of income that seniors spend on healthcare. .Consequently, Social Security recipients with the lowest benefits may not see much of an increase at all after Medicare Part B premiums are deducted. Those with benefits of about 0 or less are at risk of seeing the Part B premiums consume their entire COLA, leaving nothing extra left over to deal with other rising costs. .By Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) .How Safe Are Electronic Social Security Benefits From Fraud? .In the months ahead, TSCL's legislative team will closely monitor proposals that would impact older Americans, and we will continue to advocate for legislation that would strengthen and modernize the Social Security and Medicare programs responsibly, without enacting harsh benefit cuts.