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    Both bills would stop a premium hike of nearly 50 percent that's scheduled to hit millions of beneficiaries in January. They would also prevent a deductible increase of nearly , from 7 to Most Medicare beneficiaries will not be affected by the increases due to the "hold harmless provision" that protects them in years when premium increases are large enough to reduce their monthly Social Security checks. Since seniors are expected to receive no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year, the premium rates for around 70 percent of beneficiaries will remain unchanged from this year's. .Their bill would address the administrative funding challenges that the Social Security Administration has been facing for several years. Since 2010, the Social Security Administration's budget has declined by 9 percent, resulting in a loss of 10,000 employees and the closure of more than 10 percent of all field offices nationwide. At the same time, the number of Social Security beneficiaries has increased dramatically by 15 percent since 2010. .A majority of those at this week's hearings, however, were strongly opposed to the IPAB. Multiple Members referred to it as the "denial of care board," and Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee Frank Pallone (NJ) called it the fruits of a "growing, imperialistic presidency." Critics believe that it will undermine Congress's ability to represent their constituents, and that elected officials — not a Board of Presidential appointees — should be legislating healthcare policy. … Continued

  • Social Security Cola

    CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf made the report to President Obama's Fiscal Commission which is developing a plan to shrink the national deficit by 2015 — a target that TSCL believes will be extremely difficult to achieve without deep cuts to Social Security and widespread tax increases on middle-income taxpayers. .In his opening statement, Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (TX-3) said: "Although Social Security now has modern hardware and modern data centers, its employees are still using software that is decades out of date. About 30 percent of these legacy systems still use COBOL code, an ancient programming language that isn't even taught in schools anymore." He explained that maintaining the outdated system is costly, it requires extra training for employees, and it is difficult to update when needed. ."AbbVie is one of 33 member companies of the industry's top lobbying group, PhRMA, which raised nearly 0 million from membership dues in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available. But AbbVie's political action committee is one of just two pharmaceutical company PACs to donate the maximum ,000 to PhRMA's federal PAC since 2013, a potential indicator that AbbVie was highly motivated to influence legislation," according to a report on Salon.com. … Continued

This past week, Reps. Jerrold Nadler (NY-8) and Richard Neal (MA-2) signed on to H.R. 1332, the Social Security Fairness Act. The total is now at 14Sen. Tom Udall (NM) signed on to S. 2010, the Social Security Fairness Act, bringing the total to two. .Married living with spouse — annual income is less than ,360 (,030) and resources less than ,600 per year. .A draft of the order is circulating inside the government and was obtained by Bloomberg News. "It is critical that we reduce our dependence on foreign manufacturers for essential medicines, medical countermeasures" to "ensure sufficient and reliable long-term domestic manufacturing" that prevents shortages and supplies to "mobilize our nation's public health industrial base" when needed, says the nine-page draft. .Instead they learned they received observation care, which is considered an outpatient service, and is billed under Medicare Part B. With that designation, patients can have higher out-of-pocket costs even though they may have the very same health problems as people admitted as inpatients. .More than 61 million people, including adults age 65 and older, and younger disabled adults who receive Social Security disability benefits, get their healthcare coverage though Medicare.[3] The Social Security hold harmless provision protects about 70 percent of beneficiaries (almost 43 million beneficiaries) from increases in the Medicare Part B premium that exceed the dollar amount of their COLA. When an individual's Part B premium increases more than the dollar amount of his or her COLA, the Part B premium is reduced to prevent a reduction in net Social Security benefits from one year to the next. .Catastrophic Coverage Period: When your total out-of-pocket spending reaches ,350, you hit the catastrophic stage of coverage. Your co-insurance drops to 5% coinsurance or co-pays of .60 generic, .95 brand, whichever is higher. You remain in the Catastrophic coverage period until December 31, 2020. .TSCL is working for legislation that would provide an emergency COLA. The Seniors and Veterans Emergency (SAVE) Benefits Act (S. 2251, H.R. 4144) introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA) and Representative Tammy Duckworth (IL-8), would provide Social Security beneficiaries with a one-time emergency COLA of 3.9 percent. For the average retiree, the emergency COLA would amount to around 0 dollars. To learn more, visit . .Expands disability investigation units effective Feb 1, 2016. .TSCL Delivers Hundreds Of Thousands Of Petitions