News

  • Social Security Medicare Questions June 2013

    This week, one new cosponsor – Congressman Bill Foster (IL-11) – signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 1902), bringing the total up to 16The bill, which was introduced just a couple of months ago, has more support in Congress than any other comprehensive Social Security reform bill to date. .America's immigration policy may make a dramatic shift in the coming months. According to press reports, the new Congressional leadership may push for an immigration plan that grants amnesty to illegal immigrants residing in the U.S., and America's senior citizens are paying close attention. .Last week President Biden's administration unveiled its plan to lower prescription drug prices that includes a number of aggressive proposals but that are basically the same proposals that Democrats have pushed for years, many of which Democrats in Congress are currently working on to include in upcoming legislation. The plan would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers, a longstanding pledge from Biden, Democratic lawmakers, and every Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. It also would limit yearly price increases, allow the importation of drugs from Canada, and place a cap on out-of-pocket spending for Medicare beneficiaries … Continued

  • Ask The Advisor July 2014

    Now, another warning has been issued that some sanitizers made in both the U.S. and China contain benzene, a chemical known to cause blood cancers such as leukemias. .However, there is no denying that the past financial crisis and the ensuing recession coupled with the increasing number of participants entering retirement has taken a toll on the Social Security and Medicare Part A trust funds. In fact, the 2013 Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees annual reports found that the Social Security's retirement Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2033 and the Medicare's Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will become insolvent by 202I believe in maintaining the strength of these programs and in order to protect future surpluses of these trust funds, Congress must first enact meaningful reforms to ensure they remain for current and future generations of beneficiaries. .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

Last week TSCL was contacted by the office of Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Wash.) seeking our endorsement of legislation he is introducing titled the "Social Security Stabilization and Enhancement Act." Rep. DeFazio says this bill is a fix for the looming Social Security Trust Fund insolvency. .The "offset" rules for unemployment affected large numbers of seniors during the recent period of high unemployment. In Virginia, for example, the state unemployment insurance reserves dropped so low that a state law was triggered requiring cuts to the unemployment benefit payments of Social Security recipients in January 20By October, 30,000 jobless seniors in Virginia had been affected, and the offset completely wiped out the unemployment benefit of an additional 4,000. .We know that other prevention steps help stop the spread of COVID-19, and that these steps are still important, even as vaccines are being distributed. .Sources: "Feds Announce Biggest-Ever Medicare Fraud, Totaling 0 Million," Scott Cohn, CNBC, May 4, 201"Report: Suspect Billings At 2,600 Drugstores," Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, The Associated Press, May 13, 201"Obstacles To Collection Of Millions In Medicare Overpayments, Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services, May 2012. .Congress has a number of options to pay for the higher benefits that drew strong support in our 2020 Senior Survey: .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. .According to a report in The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper, "There are further administrative steps that need to happen before the proposal will actually take effect and result in lower drug prices. The secretary of Health and Human Services will have to issue the details of the proposal, and there will be an array of questions as to how the policy will work in practice. .Sources: "Phone Scammers and ‘Tele-doctors' Charged With Preying On Seniors in Fraud Case," Victoria Knight, NPR Health News, October 7, 201"U.S. Thwarts Medicare Genetic Testing Scam," Associated Press, September 29, 2019. .Nations all over the world are experiencing unprecedented disruptions to the drug supply chain, and that affects the U.S. drug supply. You may be interested in this article which explains the problem:https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/24/us-drug-shortage-fears-grow-as-india-locks-down-due-to-the-coronavirus.html.