News
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Tscl Supports Special Extension Of Open Enrollment Period
The report analyzed the prescribing patterns of the nation's one million doctors and found that 736 of them had questionable patterns. The drugs prescribed included highly addictive prescriptions for morphine, oxycodone, anabolic steroids, hydrocodone with codeine, and barbiturates. Doctors, and crooks who use stolen provider identification numbers are writing multiple prescriptions for the same patients that are filled by dozens of pharmacies. ."The Reality Behind Generic Drug Inflation," Express Scripts, December 30, 2014, http://lab.express-scripts.com/insights/drug-options/the-reality-behind-generic-drug-inflation. .Every year since the late 1990's, Congress has ‘balanced' the budget by declaring a pay cut to doctors' Medicare services. Every year, after the budget for the next year is revealed, this cut is rescinded. … Continued
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Usmexico Social Security Treaty Must Be Opposed
The measure's inclusion in the stimulus is likely to be a point of contention between Republicans and Democrats as they work to hash out a compromise this week that will address state and local funding, money for schools and extending expiring unemployment payments. .On Tuesday, the federal government shut down for the first time in seventeen years due to a legislative impasse between leaders in the House and Senate. Four days in, neither side has wavered much from its position. Leaders in the Senate are pressuring the House to pass a "clean" temporary funding measure, while leaders in the House continue to demand provisions that would delay or defund the Affordable Care Act. .How much would your Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) be worth if it was more accurately based on your spending patterns as a retiree? Social Security legislation under debate in the U.S. House would tie the annual boost for inflation to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). Had that index been used to calculate the COLA for 2020, your annual boost would be 1.9%, versus the 1.6% that Social Security recipients are actually getting. … Continued
In a letter of support, Art Cooper – Chairman of The Senior Citizens League's Board of Trustees – wrote: "The Senior Citizens League's supporters – most of whom are enrolled in the Social Security program – question why Congress has not yet acted to address the funding challenges of the Social Security Administration in order to ensure the service that beneficiaries have earned and deserve … As such, The Senior Citizens League salutes you for introducing the Social Security Administration Fairness Act." .Improving and maintaining access to affordable, lifesaving prescription drugs is a top concern for TSCL's supporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes and cannot afford steep and sudden cost increases. .This failure of the COLA to keep up with rising Medicare Part B premiums and other retiree costs is creating a dilemma that is growing in magnitude, not only for older Americans, but also for the nation's safety net programs like Medicaid. A majority of Social Security recipients depend on their benefits for more than half of their income, and almost half of all retirees have only limited or no retirement savings at all. The lack of adequate growth in benefits over the past eight years is pushing modest income seniors into poverty, forcing even those who started out as middle-income retiree households to rely on Medicaid for help paying Medicare costs, rental subsidies, fuel assistance, food pantries and senior meals programs. .A couple of weeks ago we told you about a recent study that made it clear that we are on the right track as we carry on the fight for lower prescription drug prices. When prices are so high, not only does it affect the financial well-being of individuals, but it also affects their physical well-being and can even have fatal consequences. .Senate Committees Question OMB Nominee .Source: "The 2018 Long-Term Budget Outlook," The Congressional Budget Office, June 2018. .Is there an information number for the Veterans Administration? .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. .A bigger portion of Social Security benefits is likely to become taxable for many older taxpayers in coming years, because newly enacted tax law ties the tax brackets and standard deduction to a more slowly - growing consumer price index — the chained Consumer Price Index. "That will mean tax brackets and the standard deduction will rise more slowly and a greater portion of income may be subject to taxation," Johnson says.
