News

  • Legislative Update 5

    Alexandria, VA (June 14, 2011) Cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) are "overpaying" Social Security recipients, and the government needs to switch to an "improved" method of measuring inflation that will give them a "small trim". That's what deficit negotiators from both sides of the aisle are saying in making the case for the government to switch to a more slowly-growing Consumer Price Index (CPI) for calculating the annual Social Security boost. .The amount spent per person, which increases with age and health changes, and .On the other hand, critics of the proposal argue that people can't always determine the timing of the application for Social Security benefits. They say that people are often forced to retire earlier than planned due to health problems, layoffs, new technology, or needing to care for one's parent or spouse. They argue that raising the age for full benefits results in reducing the early, age 62 benefit even more than it already is today. … Continued

  • Legislative Update Week Ending June 9 2017

    Virtually all of the changes tend to show inflation as growing more slowly. Independent economist John Williams believes that the combined effect understates the measured rate of inflation by an astonishing 7 percentage points. One of the clearest illustrations of the impact of a major change is seen in the following chart of COLAs between 1976 and 1987. .The absence of confirmed transmission is not necessarily evidence that fliers are safe. Instead, the lack of data reflects the fact that the U.S. has a higher infection rate relative to other countries, said Chen. Since the U.S. has so many confirmed cases, it's more difficult to determine exactly where somebody contracted the virus. ​ .The House-passed bill eliminates the medical expense deduction, which approximately 5 million taxpayers over the age of sixty-five rely upon when their out-of-pocket medical costs total more than 10 percent of their annual income. The elimination of this deduction would be a catastrophic financial loss for those who find themselves in need of costly in-home or nursing home care. Congressman Kevin Brady (TX-8) – the chairman of the bicameral conference committee – said this week that he hopes to keep the deduction in place, but discussions remain up in the air. … Continued

August Recess Continues .Locate the booklet of information about your drug plan for 2020. Your drug plan is required to send you "Evidence of Coverage" for 2020, a booklet that outlines your plan's coverage for your prescription drugs, and what you pay in general. If you don't have that information from your drug plan, or if you don't see answers to your specific questions, you can call the customer service representative of your drug plan directly, or you may find information about your drug plan online by searching drug plans at www.Medicare.gov. .Not surprisingly, TSCL surveys and email indicated that although Medicare costs continued to grow from 2010 to 2011, many seniors were forced to cut back and forego healthcare services. This undoubtedly was a major reason why government spending on Medicare remained relatively flat. The following table illustrates responses to a question from the TSCL 2011 Healthcare Cost Survey conducted in October 2011: .We could, too, but would need to consider mechanisms outside of our current box — at least for this national emergency. .This claim, as you probably suspect, is hogwash. The CPI currently used to calculate the COLA underpays, not overpays retirees because it is based on the spending patterns of younger working adults. Yet younger workers spend less than half the amount on healthcare costs than people over the age of 65 do. Retirees also spend a bigger share of their income on housing. .After being suspended since November 2, 2015, the debt cap was reinstated last week. "Although the Treasury secretary is using ‘extraordinary measures' to fund the budget for now, a failure to lift the debt limit in time would affect all Americans, including the timely payment of Social Security benefits," says TSCL Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, Mary Johnson. .How You Can Get Help With Heating Costs .TSCL was stunned to learn just how big the disparity in drug prices can be. Johnson compared the highest and lowest prices of the top ten most-prescribed drugs in the U.S. using the Drug Plan Finder found on the Medicare website. The overall average cost difference between the highest - and lowest - cost plans for the top ten drugs was 3 per month. Johnson's comparison used one zip code as a control since prices vary depending on the part of the country where an individual lives, as well as between plans. In Johnson's zip code she had 23 plans to compare. .Although some people argue that the Congressional investigation against AARP was politically motivated, there is no escaping the fact that AARP's revenues from royalties – mostly from insurance sales – are more than two and half times higher than its membership dues (as of 2009).