News

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending April 5 2013

    Here's how it works: If Medicare spending exceeds certain growth rates, the 15-member board must make recommendations to Congress to rein in spending. If Congress fails to respond by passing cost-cutting measures of their own, the board's recommendations would be automatically implemented. .TSCL is advocating for legislation that would provide a more fair and adequate COLA, by tying the annual adjustment to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI- E). Projections show that by using the CPI-E, Social Security benefits would be about 9 percent higher over 25 years. An average benefit of ,300 in 2017 would be about 2 per month more at the end of the 2year period using the CPI-E. .Social Security and Medicare Public Trustees Recommend Raising Eligibility Age and Benefit Formula Changes … Continued

  • Are You Overpaying For Prescription Drugs New Analysis Says Yes

    You may qualify if your yearly income and "resources" or savings are below the following limits in 2017: .Third, TSCL was pleased that Congress passed legislation last fall to stave off a 52 percent hike in Medicare Part B premiums for around 15 million beneficiaries. Back in October, our legislative team hand delivered letters to every office on Capitol Hill urging lawmakers to prevent the abrupt and dramatic premium increase. We were pleased when legislation was signed into law later that month to provide relief for the millions of Medicare beneficiaries who would have otherwise seen massive cost increases in January. .To complicate it even more, because of the particular rules of the Senate regarding a filibuster, a bill that is controversial in any way must have 60 votes in order to pass. And with Republicans so divided about drug pricing legislation, the path to final passage is wrought with obstacles. The one possible way to pass something is by attaching drug pricing legislation to a bill dealing with surprise medical billing. That would not happen until late in the spring if it happens at all. … Continued

"It is not possible or believable that the infection control surveys accurately portray the extent of infection control deficiencies in U.S. nursing facilities," the report states. .May Signal Zero COLA for 2016 .Here's how we got here: The hold harmless provision was triggered nationally in 2016 when the Social Security Administration announced that there would be no COLA payable, due to a drop in inflation. Barbara's Medicare Part B premium stayed the same as it was the year before, at 4.90, even though Medicare Part B premiums in 2016 jumped to 1.80 for about 30% of beneficiaries, such as new enrollees who were not protected by the hold harmless provision. .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. .Regardless of what the court decides, TSCL believes that Congress needs to enact legislation that would prevent Social Security credits for unauthorized work done under illegal, stolen or invalid Social Security numbers. TSCL supports the No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act (H.R. 1716), introduced by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48). .On Thursday evening, lawmakers in the House and Senate voted to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the federal government until Friday, December 22nd. TSCL is pleased that lawmakers successfully averted a government shutdown since failing to do so could have impacted the timely delivery of Social Security benefits. Physicians and other medical providers also could have seen delays in their reimbursements from the Medicare program if the federal government had shut down. .The annual COLA increased Social Security benefits in January of 2021 by just 1.3 percent. While the lack of inflation in 2020 did somewhat improve the buying power of Social Security benefits by 2 percentage points by the month of January 2021 — from a loss in buying power of 30 percent to a loss of 28 percent — that improvement was completely wiped out by soaring inflation in February and March of this year. .So it turns out that we have an important choice to make as a country. We can continue down the current path, increase our dependence on China, and accept the risk to our survival. Or we can invest in domestic manufacturing of a minimum level of production of essential medicines to prevent a situation where our supply is severed. .Millions of Seniors Are Losing Benefits