News

  • March 2014 Virtual Strategy Magazine

    Is Low Cost Dental Insurance A Good Reason to Switch Health Plans? .We want to assure you that we will try to report the facts as we understand them and keep elective politics out of it. .Recent vaccines targeting more limited populations, such as a meningitis B vaccine for college students and the shingles vaccine for older adults, have a retail cost of 0 to 0 for a full course. … Continued

  • Majority Of Retirees Say Cola Should Be Top Priority For Congress

    That's sensible, practical – and fair. It asks those who have benefited most from wealth inequality to pay their proper share of payroll taxes. .Upon introducing his bill, Congressman Duncan said, "Lower energy prices have pulled down the overall official inflation rate based off of the CPI-W, which measures spending habits of young, urban workers. But seniors don't spend and consume in the same way as working Americans. It's time to finally create an accurate inflation rate just for seniors." .However, price negotiations could be included later this year in a reconciliation bill, a fast-track budgetary move that only needs 51 votes to pass the Senate and cannot be blocked using a filibuster. … Continued

Benefit Bulletin: February 2014 Before Obamacare & 8220;Glitch,& 8221; There Was The Notch Glitch .TSCL will be watching closely for the expected executive orders and we will report on them in our legislative update that follows the release of the orders. .TSCL enthusiastically supports H.R. 1391 since it would strengthen the program without cutting benefits for seniors. We were pleased to see support grow for it this week. .Voters have opposed benefit cuts in the past as a way to fix Social Security. But TSCL's new 2016 Senior Survey found that older voters favor some changes that provide the program with more revenue, and modestly higher benefits in the future. .But when hold harmless is triggered more widely than usual, as we expect to be the case in 2021, there is no provision of law with which to finance the unpaid portion of Medicare Part B premium increases of the roughly 43 million who are protected by the provision. In the past, Congress has chosen to allow this cost burden to shift to the 30 percent of beneficiaries who are not held harmless. Because the cost is spread over far fewer people, instead of all beneficiaries, those who are not protected by hold harmless pay a far larger share of the costs, thus the huge Part B premium jumps. .Third, the bipartisan CHANGE Act (H.R. 4957) gained one new cosponsor in Representative Ted Lieu (CA-33), bringing the total up to twenty-two. If adopted, the CHANGE Act would promote early identification of Alzheimer's disease, improve support for family caregivers, and provide continuous care for those battling many forms of dementia. .Fight to End Surprise Billing is Losing Key Ally .The Social Security Administration is required to withhold in benefits for each you earned above the limit until the year in which you reach full retirement age. The year in which you reach full retirement age, you are allowed to earn more. The amount you may earn is adjusted annually. In 2007 when you retired, it was ,960 (,080 per month) for retirees like you who were under full retirement age. .This week, in elections nation-wide, Republicans in the House and Senate held on to their majorities, and President-elect Donald Trump defied odds to win the White House.