News

  • Growth Of The Social Security Earnings Suspense File Points To The Rising Potential Cost Of Unauthorized Work To Social Security 2

    TSCL enthusiastically supports H.R. 2305 and H.R. 3118, and we were pleased to see support grow for both of them this week. .Give yourself a Benefits Check Up: If your savings are gone, and you aren't able to get a side job, you might qualify for programs that can help pay for Medicare Part B premiums, drug costs, meals, heating and cooling your home, rental subsidies and other costs. Using the National Council on Aging's Benefits Check Up online tool is simple. You answer a few screening questions and you can get the contact information for programs in your area. .Provide a one-time bump – up in monthly benefits for all beneficiaries. A higher level of monthly benefits would mean more adequate COLAs and a greater ability to afford Medicare Part B premium increases in coming years. … Continued

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending January 25 2013

    According to the IRS, advance payments of the Child Tax Credit will be made from July through December to eligible taxpayers and will be up to 50% of the credit. Advance payments will be estimated from your 2020 tax returns, or 2019 returns if the 2020 returns are not filed and processed yet. . Send an email to your Members of Congress. This is an election year, and the last thing they want to hear is that health insurers are blaming COVID-19 for the steep price increases. You can get email addresses on TSCL's website here: http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8854/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=10560. Or, you can look up your Representative and send emails at: www.house.gov and Senators at: www.senate.gov. .The Senior Citizens League is proud to have endorsed the BENES Act, and we hope the Senate Aging Committee will work to enact this legislation by the end of this year. To stay updated on the progress of the BENES Act, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. … Continued

Gather your medical expense records from the past year to three years, if you have them. Organization of these records not only helps you figure out your household budget, but keeping it all in one place helps you compile the amount to claim as medical expenses at tax time. Since expenses vary so much with your health, going back three years can help you get a better idea of average annual cost. .The House of Representatives has scheduled a vote for this coming Wednesday on a new CR that will last until Dec. 18, as well. .Source: "Senators Introduced Medicare Reform Plan: The Congressional Health Care for Seniors Act," Paul.Senate.Gov, March 15, 2012. .Industry groups and health systems led by the American Hospital Association challenged the rule, arguing that the rule would do more harm than good because it won't "tell consumers their actual out-of-pocket costs, will likely produce confusion and may be less effective than the price-transparency tools the hospital field has been developing." .But it turns out the Democrats are not quite as united as that statement makes it sound. Ten members recently sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressing concerns about the drug pricing legislation as written. .However, there are several steps an importer would have to take to be certified to import the drugs and they are costly. If the current FDA rules are kept in place it could be that states would not see significant savings in the costs of drugs, or even enough savings to justify the cost of setting up such a program. .The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act (S. 64), also introduced by Senators Grassley and Klobuchar, would prohibit anti-competitive pay-for-delay deals that keep much cheaper generic and biosimilar medicines off the market. .Congressman Bill Pascrell (D- N.J.) was very blunt when he said that all the talk about fixing Social Security is just platitudes. While both sides of the aisle know it needs to be fixed and say they want to fix it, nothing is really being done. .A study by the Health Care Cost Institute found that people receiving observation and other outpatient services in the hospital paid four times more out-of-pocket than inpatients in 2012— an average of per inpatient versus 9 for outpatients. Under Medicare, outpatients usually have co-payments or co-insurance for each service from doctors, test, prescription drug, and other hospital services.