News

  • Category Issues Soical Security Notch Articles

    "Addressing our fiscal challenges will require many tough choices and policy changes—but switching to the chained CPI represents neither. Such a change offers policy makers the rare opportunity to achieve significant savings spread across the entire budget by making a technical improvement to existing policies. As such, across-the-board adoption of the chained CPI should be at the top of the list for any deficit reduction plan or down payment." .This past week, Reps. Jerrold Nadler (NY-8) and Richard Neal (MA-2) signed on to H.R. 1332, the Social Security Fairness Act. The total is now at 14Sen. Tom Udall (NM) signed on to S. 2010, the Social Security Fairness Act, bringing the total to two. .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. … Continued

  • Senate Rejects Two Attempts To Provide 250 Emergency Social Security Payment Feed

    This week, Congressman John Larson (CT-1) – Chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee – introduced the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 860) along with the support of more than two hundred original House cosponsors. Senator Richard Blumenthal (CT) also introduced the companion bill – S. 269 – in the Senate this week along with Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD). .On Wednesday, Members of the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing called "The Coming Crisis: Social Security Disability Trust Fund Insolvency." They heard from a number of expert witnesses, including Carolyn Colvin, the Acting Social Security Commissioner. .TSCL Calls On Congress To Close The Loop Hole … Continued

Individuals at full retirement age (66 in 2017) who retire with an average monthly benefit of ,300 would receive about 0,000 over a 25-year retirement assuming a 2.2% cost-of-living adjustment. Since you were born in 1955, your full retirement age is 66 + 2 months. But even people who retire at full retirement age are leaving money on the table when starting benefits prior to reaching age 70. Waiting until age 70 allows benefits to grow 8% per year. .Using Generic Drugs Could Save Billions of Dollars .Tax Plan Moves to Conference Committee .Part B premiums are only part of what Medicare recipients pay. People also have premiums for a Medigap supplement and Part D plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan and those premiums are rising as well. Hold harmless protection does not apply to premium increases in these private plans, and any increase would leave retirees .In addition, two new cosponsors – Sen. Tom Harkin (IA) and Rep. Michael Honda (CA-17) – signed on to the Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act (S. 308 and H.R. 649), bringing the total up to two in the Senate and twenty-six in the House. If signed into law, the bill would base the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) upon the spending patterns of seniors, and it would gradually eliminate the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. It would reportedly add fifty years to the solvency of the Trust Fund, while also making the COLA more fair and accurate. .The Senate was not in session and is scheduled to return on January 25th. .Ask about insurer discounts. When shopping, learn what the prospective insurer gives discounts for. Smoke detectors, burglar alarms and dead bolt locks can be worth a 5% premium discount. .The Social Security Administration maintains an "earnings suspense file" which tracks wages sent in by employers, for earnings that cannot be posted to individual workers' records because there is no match for the name and Social Security number. The Congressional Research Service reports that wages represented in the earnings suspense file currently amount to approximately 0 billion. According to Social Security Administration Inspector Patrick P. O'Carroll, "We believe the chief cause of wage items being posted to the earnings suspense file instead of an individual's earning record is unauthorized work by noncitizens." .The article continued, "The NBER study zeros in on how increases in prescription drug costs among Medicare recipients affect patient choices and comes to a stark finding: ‘Patient cost-sharing introduces large and deadly distortions into the cost-benefit calculus,' the report said."