News

  • Legislative Update July Advisor

    This week, one new cosponsor – Rep. Betty McCollum (MN-4) – signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 1391). The total is now up to sixty-two. If signed into law, H.R. 1391 would increase Social Security benefits by 2 percent, cut taxes for over 11 million seniors, increase the minimum benefit to 125 percent of the poverty line, and make cost-of-living adjustments more fair and accurate. It would also take measures to increase the solvency of the trust fund beyond the next seventy-five years, through the year 2100. .Social Security's combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds will be fully funded until 203At that point, if nothing is done by Congress, Social Security will still have the funds to pay out 79 percent of scheduled benefits using tax revenues. The Trustees also estimated that Medicare's Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund will be fully funded until 2026, at which point the program will still be able to pay out 88 percent of scheduled benefits using tax revenues. .The bad news: there's still plenty of age discrimination in the workplace. When workers over age 50 lose their jobs, it takes them much longer to find new jobs. And the impact of a layoff is bigger for older workers. These folks face the reality that they may not work again full time, which can wreck a retirement plan. Studies show that household wealth typically takes a hit as high as 23 percent for single people and 19 percent for married couples. … Continued

  • How An Infrastructure Bill Could Affect Drug Prices

    The government has made it much easier to drop out of an older supplemental Medigap plan and join a new Medicare Advantage plan than the other way around. In fact, if you drop your older supplement, you may not be able to get it back again should you discover your new plan is not what you thought it would be. Failure to read the fine print can expose you to thousands of dollars in unexpected out-of-pocket costs should you require even just a few days of hospitalization or have a health condition that requires multiple visits to the doctor and lab services. .Screen your calls: Even if you have caller ID, experts suggest screening calls any way. More robo-callers are making their calls appear to be local by using phone numbers from your own local calling area. Unless you know the number of the caller is legit, don't pick up. Legitimate callers, such as your doctor's office calling to remind of an appointment, will leave a message. Tell your family and friends to leave a message and to keep talking at least long enough for you to get to the phone if your phone's speaker allows you to hear the caller's message. .Action on Capitol Hill was slow this week as Members of the House returned to their districts for a week-long recess, and most Members of the Senate kept their focus on a transportation bill and a series of judicial nominations. However, on Thursday, four Senators unveiled a drastic plan to phase out Medicare. … Continued

Vet services are estimated to cost at least 0 per year for dogs, and about 8 per year for cats, while many of us pay much more, even with so-called senior discounts. Diagnostic procedures can cost over ,000, while some surgeries can run in the thousands of dollars. .The order is a direct response to the President's efforts to greenlight the importation of drugs from Canada. .We had no way to tell how much worse these scams were about to become. As a result of this pandemic, our legislative efforts must evolve just as these scams have. .You make an excellent point! The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) uses the most recent data for the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W), the index that is used to calculate the annual Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA). New data is released monthly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. .The Board of Trustees for Social Security and Medicare recently released a bombshell of a report that shows this essential health safety net is coming apart at the seams. The report estimates the Medicare trust fund will run dry in 2024, five years earlier than last year's estimate, and went on to explain, "The fund is not adequately financed over the next ten years." In an alternate estimate also released, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Chief Actuary Rick Foster painted an even more dire picture, reporting that Medicare's unfunded obligations could be significantly higher, and long-term costs could dramatically increase from the numbers provided in the Board of Trustee's report. .In addition to Medicare Part A and B, you will need additional insurance. Medicare alone does not cover everything, and there are considerable out-of-pocket costs that would suck your life savings right out of any nest egg you might have. You will need to decide between a supplemental insurance policy, known as Medigap, and a free-standing prescription drug plan, or to join a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage. TSCL strongly recommends that you get free, unbiased counseling, to learn your options and to find the most reasonably-priced coverage for your needs. All areas of the country offer this Medicare counseling through State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIP). Although the actual name of the program in your area may vary, you can find the programs operating through your area agency on aging, senior center, or get contact info here: https://www.shiptacenter.org .According to the committee report, a (now retired) Social Security judge, David B. Daugherty, schemed with a disability attorney Eric C. Conn, improperly awarding benefits to "virtually all" of Conn's 1,823 clients. The decisions were based on recommendations by an unusually loyal group of doctors who "often examined Conn's clients right in his law offices" according to a CBS News "60 Minutes" program. .By Representative Alan Nunnelee (MS-1) .In fact, according to TSCL's annual survey of senior costs, Social Security benefits have lost more than one-third of their buying power since 2000 because COLAs underpay recipients. TSCL supports using the CPI-E to determine COLAs that better take into account the spending patterns of older people. For well over a decade, TSCL has lobbied Congress to make the COLA more fair and accurate. TSCL is mobilizing seniors nationwide to contact Members of Congress.