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  • Legislative Update February March 2018

    At the time of writing this update on Friday morning, the vote had not yet occurred. It is expected to take place on Friday afternoon, before the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has a chance to evaluate the final version. It remains unclear whether or not the AHCA will gain the support needed to win passage. If adopted, the AHCA will move to the Senate, where its future remains even more uncertain. If it fails, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have said they will move on to other legislative priorities, like tax reform. .On October 22, 2014, TSCL's Executive Director was interviewed on Fox Business about the 2015 COLA announcement. .The pending cuts are due to a rule, the PAYGO Act, which was passed in 2010 and which corrects for additions to the federal deficit by automatically cutting funding from certain departments and programs. … Continued

  • March 2014 Insurancenewsnet Com

    TSCL recently released an analysis of the proposal that estimates the chained CPI would cut the growth in average benefits of ,100 today by ,634 over the course of a 25-year retirement, and that assumes that the economy becomes more stable soon. The reductions in COLA growth compound over time, and are the deepest when seniors are the oldest and sickest. By the time seniors are in their late 80s or 90s, when they are most likely to have chronic health problems, monthly benefits would be about 5 lower using the chained CPI. .From my standpoint, the Federal Government has no business obtaining your personal medical data. There is no space in the examining room for the government. In response, I introduced H.R. 3218 on October 13, 2011 with Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas. Rep. Huelskamp wrote an op-ed that first brought light to this issue and I am happy to have worked with him in crafting this legislation. H.R. 3218 would "amend section 1343 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to ensure the privacy of individually identifiable health information in connection with risk adjustment." The Federal Government should not be inserting itself in your health care decision-making process. .The stockpile had 13 million medical-quality N-95 masks when the pandemic hit. The government aspires to have 1 billion, with 300 million anticipated by fall. It had 2 million gowns at the start of the pandemic and expects that to grow to as many as 7 million. … Continued

A surviving beneficiary spouse is one who collects Social Security benefits not from their own account, but from the account of his or her deceased spouse. To find out more about Notch Reform benefits for surviving beneficiaries, click here: What Happens to Benefit Payments When Your Spouse is Deceased? .To get a list of supplemental plans offered in your state, insurers and premiums, check your state's insurance commission's website for published guides comparing Medicare supplement premiums. Look up the plan you are interested in to compare premiums in your area. Be sure you look at the quotes for people who are your age, but do read on to get a feel for how premiums rise with age. Once you pin down a few likely insurers, you will need to call the insurer to confirm premium quotes for your zip code. .In 1988, a report by the former U. S. General Accounting Office, now the Government Accountability Office (GAO), cited an example of two sisters who started working at the same book bindery, on the same day, in October 195Audrey was born in March 1916, and Edith in June of 191The two had almost identical lifetime earnings. The younger sister Edith (born 1917) received a monthly benefit of 2.60, 1.80 less than her older sister Audrey (born 1916), who received 4.40 per month. .For the last few weeks we have reported on President Trump's executive order to allow employers to defer payroll taxes owed by workers, which funds Social Security and Medicare. TSCL is opposed to payroll tax cuts of any kind because they seriously jeopardize the financial viability of both programs. .The TSCL legislative team continues to work diligently to promote the issues affecting our members. While much of this week's success was focused on current bills, our team also strives to stay on top of forth-coming legislation yet to be formally introduced. The work of our committed legislative team enables TSCL to keep capable eyes and ears on Congress' inner-workings to better represent the concerns of our valued members. .TSCL enthusiastically supports the Credit for Caring Act, the Social Security Fairness Act, and the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act, and we were pleased to see support grow for each one this week. To receive frequent progress updates on these and other Social Security, Medicare, and family caregiving bills, follow TSCL on Twitter. .Upon introducing the bill, Rep. Negrete McLeod said: "For seniors living on a fixed income, this could greatly impact their quality of life … We must protect seniors and ensure those who are most vulnerable do not face greater economic insecurity due to rising medical expenses." By preventing the threshold hike from occurring, her bill would save the average senior nearly 0 a year in qualifying tax deductions. TSCL enthusiastically supports H.R. 4104, and we look forward to working with Rep. Negrete McLeod in the coming months to help build support for it. In the meantime, we encourage our members and supporters to contact their representatives to request their support for it. To find contact information for your elected officials, click HERE. .Since people often move when they retire, under locality pay adjustment rates, the area they choose to live in during retirement could significantly impact the amount of Social Security they receive. Would retirees crowd into areas of the country with high locality pay adjustments? .The aggressive collection efforts resulted from a one-line change tucked into the 2008 Farm Bill lifting the statute of limitations. The U.S. Treasury seized a reported .9 billion in tax refunds this year alone — million of that was for debts more than 10 years old. The Social Security Administration says that 400,000 taxpayers collectively owe 4 million in debts that are more than 10 years old.