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  • Outrageous Totalization Agreement With Mexico Pending Feed

    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. .So, before these invaluable vaccines hit the market, we should talk about an actual price. Otherwise, we will be stuck paying dearly for shots that the rest of the world will get for much less. .If the Social Security COLA were based on a more accurate measure of inflation for senior citizens, next year's increase would not be 0.3 percent – it would be 2.1 percent according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Do you support legislation that would base the COLA on a more accurate inflation index like the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly? … Continued

  • Congressional Corner Transforming Medicare Fixing A Broken Payment System

    There's good news and bad for older job seekers. The good news: the jobless rate for older workers is lower than the overall unemployment rate. And many employers do value older workers for their experience, skill sets, reliability and maturity. .This week, TSCL enthusiastically announced its support for the Preventing and Reducing Improper Medicare and Medicaid Expenditures (PRIME) Act (S. 1123 and H.R. 2305). In the Senate, the bill was introduced by Sens. Tom Carper (DE) and Tom Coburn (OK), and in the House, it was introduced by Reps. Peter Roskam (IL-6) and John Carney (DE). It currently has bipartisan support, with fifteen cosponsors in the Senate and ten in the House. .Sources: "How Much ‘Skin In The Game' Is Enough?", Kaiser Family Foundations, June 201"Measuring Price Change For Medical Care In The CPI," Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed March 3, 2012. … Continued

If you are interested in helping TSCL make the most of the 113th Congress, give us a call at 800-333-TSCL to help us start a local chapter or plan a town hall meeting in your area. .It's unlikely that Congress will move forward on this plan or any Medicare reform proposals before a critical election, but The Senior Citizens League will keep a close eye on the negotiations. .The Social Security Disability Trust Fund (SSDI) is rapidly closing in on becoming the first of the two Social Security Trust Funds to become fully insolvent. The disability trust fund, which is separate from the one that pays retirement and survivors benefits, is due to have funding problems by 2016. .The following Members of Congress, among many others, will be holding town hall meetings this week: Sen. Bill Cassidy (LA), Sen. Michael Crapo (ID), Sen. Jerry Moran (KS), Sen. Pat Roberts (KS), Rep. Garret Graves (LA-6), Rep. Jody Hice (GA-10), Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8), Rep. Will Hurd (TX-23), Rep. Diane Black (TN-6), Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR-1), Rep. Bradley Byrne (AL-1), Rep. Kevin Cramer (ND), Rep. Raul Labrador (ID-1), Rep. Joyce Beatty (OH-3), Rep. Brett Guthrie (KY-2), Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-4), Rep. Tom Rice (SC-7), Rep. Mimi Walters (CA-45), Rep. Bruce Westerman (AR-4), Rep. Tom Emmer (MN-6), Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-4), Rep. Mark Amodei (NV-2), Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-9), and Rep. Bill Pascrell (NJ-9). .The flurry of activity in Congress has shared the top of the news this week with the continuing Covid-19 crisis and the beginning of the vaccine distribution program. We try not to repeat news here that is available to everyone who gets their news from TV, radio, newspapers or online, but there are two things that occurred in all the activity that are especially important to seniors. .I heard that Medicare would be mailing new cards. When can I expect to get mine? .When asked whether the waiting periods for disability and Medicare benefits should be eliminated, 67% of TSCL's poll participants support eliminating the waiting periods for both Social Security and Medicare. Only 18% supported keeping both waiting periods, 9% supported eliminating the 2-year wait for Medicare alone, and 5% supported eliminating the 5-month wait for Social Security alone. .Locality pay adjustments are currently used to adjust the paychecks of federal workers. Federal employees receive a two-part pay adjustment that includes base pay (which is established by a specific formula set by law) and locality pay adjustments. The locality pay adjustment varies depending on where the employee works. The parameters aren't set by law but use metropolitan statistical areas to define locality pay areas. .his week, members of the new budget conference met for an opening session, and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) announced its support for legislation that would extend the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) health insurance exchanges. In addition, important numbers were released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week, and TSCL saw .