News

  • Congressional Corner Two Bills That Would Bring Down High Prescription Drug Costs

    In the months ahead, TSCL will continue to advocate for these and other legislative efforts that would improve the solvency of Social Security and Medicare without cutting benefits for seniors. .TSCL believes several of the proposals under consideration would make the program unaffordable over time for the majority of beneficiaries. According to a new TSCL survey, more than one quarter of Medicare beneficiaries spend as much as 50% of their Social Security payments just to cover healthcare costs. TSCL recently delivered a listing of hundreds of thousands of petition signers from supporters to almost every Member of Congress and is continuing to convey concerns about plans to cut Social Security and Medicare. .There are two types of U.S. debt: debt held by the public, like U.S. savings bonds, and debt held by government accounts. The Social Security Trust Fund is the single biggest government account holding U.S. debt, with the federal government owing the Trust Fund about .8 trillion. Since 2010, the program has paid out more in benefits than it receives in cash revenues, requiring the U.S. treasury to borrow to pay the interest due on the non-marketable bonds or I.O.U.s held by the Trust Funds — money that is needed to pay the benefits of current beneficiaries. According to a recent TSCL poll, 95 percent of older voters say that money owed to the Social Security Trust Fund should be repaid in full. … Continued

  • Important Message To All Medicare Beneficiaries

    The Social Security Trustees further estimate that .9 billion in revenues in 2020 would come from the taxation of Social Security benefits. "Yet those revenues are also likely to be lower, impacted by both large numbers of older Americans who lost income from jobs, as well as from lower distributions from retirement accounts that have lost value from last year," Johnson notes. Under the CARES Act, retirees are allowed to completely waive required minimum distributions for 2020 from retirement accounts. .On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to discuss improvements to the Medicare payment system. Currently, reimbursements are determined by the SGR, a flawed formula that regularly calls for steep pay cuts to physicians and threatens seniors' access to medical care. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed a strong interest in repealing and replacing the formula in the coming months. .Government agencies will identify themselves. … Continued

Clauses requiring mandatory arbitration have become exceedingly common in many types of contracts, but they can have serious implications for unsuspecting consumers. By signing such agreements, consumers give up their Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury or their right to bring civil suit in court against the company no matter what the grievance. This can even include sexual abuse, medication errors, and negligence. .In shopping for housing you will find that many senior living communities have medical criteria for acceptance. Since your sister has no children, she may need a facility that provides a continuum of care. As her health declines, she would move from independent living to assisted living, and finally nursing or memory care as her health declines. If her income is limited, all the more reason to start looking for affordable facilities ahead of time. It's not uncommon to encounter waiting lists at the most desirable facilities. .Grassley to Push Hard in the Senate for his Drug Pricing Bill .Sens. Tom Carper (DE) and Tom Coburn (OK) introduced S. 1123 on June 10, 201It has since been referred to the Committee on Finance. ."We found consistently high U.S. brand-name prices regardless of our methodological decisions," said Mulcahy, a senior health policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. .Prior to 1984, Social Security benefits were excluded from taxation. Today, from 50 to 85 percent of Social Security income can be subject to taxation depending on two income thresholds. For taxpayers with incomes between ,000 and ,000 (individual) or ,000 and ,000 (filing jointly), up to 50 percent of Social Security benefits may be taxable. For individuals with incomes above ,000 or couples filing jointly with incomes above ,000, up to 85 percent of benefits may be taxable. .Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin said, "I have directed an immediate halt to further referrals under the Treasury Offset Program to recover debts owed to the agency that are 10 years old and older pending a thorough review of our responsibility and discretion under the current law." But a week after the announcement The Washington Post reported that "many taxpayers say the government is still seizing refunds." The Social Security Administration said letters to those taxpayers went out before the announcement, but it remains unclear whether they will get their money back. .Local Lion's Club. Local chapters may have programs to assist people with severe vision impairment, and some clubs run the Affordable Hearing Aid Project, which distributes three types of affordable hearing aids. To find contact details for your local chapter, visit: Lions Club Directory. .The Social Security report projected the combined reserves of the Old Age, Survivor and Disability trust funds would be depleted in 2035, resulting in across-the-board benefit cuts of about 21% unless Congress stepped in before then.