News

  • Notch Bulletin March 2011

    2017 Loss of Buying Power Report .If the bill is going to reach the President's desk for his signature the House will have to agree to the changes the Senate made and pass it one more time. It may take a couple of weeks if that is to happen, however, because the House will not be back in session until the week of April 12. .The orders were issued on a Friday which left little time for analysts to review them and comment prior to the weekend. However, since then we have learned new information, we want to share with you. … Continued

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending March 4 2016

    Source: " 10 Charts About Public Opinion On Medicaid," Kaiser Family Foundation, June 27, 201"Medicare Savings Program Cuts Delayed By Two Months," Mackenzie Rigg, The CT Mirror, December 5, 201"General Assembly Reverses Cuts To Medicare Program," Keith Phaneuf, The CT Mirror, January 8, 2018. .In a letter that was delivered along with the petitions, Art Cooper – Chairman of The Senior Citizens League's Board of Trustees – wrote: "This bill would better protect the purchasing power of benefits while improving the solvency of the trust funds for decades to come … If you are already a cosponsor of this critical bill, please accept my gratitude. If you are not, please consider the requests of these eight hundred petition signers and cosponsor it before the end of this year." .You might be able to avoid doing so. Coronavirus stimulus legislation (CARES Act) that was signed into law in March waives required minimum distributions (RMDs) in 2020 for anyone who owns a 401(k), 403(b), or IRA. Instead of taking money from your retirement accounts this year, retirees can wait, or take less, to give investments time to recover. That's helpful, because most RMDs are based on the value of your retirement accounts on December 31st of the previous year. … Continued

"It's outrageous to say that COLAs overpay seniors and the disabled," Hyland says. "To the contrary, COLAs already grow too slowly to provide the protection to Social Security benefits they're intended to," he points out. .In July of 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act regarding risk adjustment. Under this rule, the Federal Government is requiring health insurers to provide confidential and detailed medical information about a person. Aside from the fact that this is an invasion of privacy, we must also remember the Federal Government's lack of accountability with health records when over 5 million TRICARE records were stolen from the car of a government contractor this past fall. .On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy held a hearing titled: "Examining the Importance of Paid Family Leave for American Working Families." Those on the subcommittee heard from two of their colleagues – Senator Joni Ernst (IA) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) – as well as three expert witnesses. .In the past, supplemental benefits offered by MA plans were only required to be primarily health related and typically included dental, hearing or vision benefits. Starting in 2019, new supplemental benefits must be medically appropriate and recommended by a licensed provider as part of a care plan, and not offered simply to induce enrollment. Examples of the new supplemental benefits include adult day care services, in-home support services, home and bathroom safety devices, transportation, and home-based palliative care. However, to qualify for these benefits, you must be diagnosed with a condition for which these benefits are necessary, and the benefits must be listed by your physician as part of your plan of care. .In addition, on Wednesday, the Social Security Administration announced that seniors will receive a 1.5 percent Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2014, which is slightly lower than 2013's 1.7 percent COLA, and is far lower than the 3 percent average COLA over the past thirty years. Officials also announced on Wednesday that the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax will increase in January from 3,700 to 7,000. In a press release, SSA noted that about 10 million workers will pay higher taxes in 2014 as a result of the increase. .This week, the House Budget Committee met to discuss retirement security in America, and The Senior Citizens League saw three key Social Security bills gain support in Congress. .I heard that Medicare would be mailing new cards. When can I expect to get mine? .When the pandemic hit early last year, seniors became more susceptible than ever to scams, because of the increased digitization of our daily lives. Newly-available resources are now being used as bait, and already existing scam techniques have unfortunately adapted to fit the pandemic narrative. .A few years later, under 2003 Medicare drug legislation, funding for private plans was significantly boosted and the program got rebranded as "Medicare Advantage." Enrollment grew steadily and rapidly ever since. But by 2009, government economists reported that the payments to the plans cost the federal government 14 percent more than the same services would have cost under traditional Medicare.