

News
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Q June 2016
Some Medicare Advantage plans offer low cost dental insurance as an additional benefit. Before adding the coverage, always look into the details. Coverage can be very skimpy for the money, and you might be able to find better coverage for the same amount of money from a stand-alone dental plan. .If signed into law, the Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to apply Social Security payroll taxes to earnings up to the contribution and benefit base and to all earnings in excess of 0,000. ."If you look at the science across all diseases, you see few outbreaks" on planes, Allen said. "It's not the hotbed of infectivity that people think it is." … Continued
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Legislative Update For Week Ending February 12 2015
TREA Senior Citizens League (TSCL) was formed in 1993 to protect "earned" Social Security and Medicare benefits. Many TSCL members are affected by the Notch, and rank Notch Reform as their top legislative priority. TSCL is the only national senior citizens action organization to continue to lobby for Notch Reform. To date, TSCL has 1.3 million members and supporters who participate in a number of grassroots lobbying and public education campaigns. .TSCL believes the increased use of observation stays is denying Medicare beneficiaries access to medically necessary skilled nursing care. All days spent in a hospital should count toward Medicare's three-day hospital stay requirement. TSCL supports the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act (H.R. 1179) introduced by Representatives Joseph Courtney (CT-2) and Tom Latham (IA-3), and (S. 569) introduced by Senators Sherrod Brown, (OH) and Susan Collins (ME). The legislation would deem time an individual spends under observation status eligible towards satisfying Medicare's three-day requirement. .I turn 65 later this year and I'm in good health. How much will Medicare premiums cost, and what other costs will I have? I do not get health insurance where I work. … Continued
Last week White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows announced that President Trump would soon be signing three executive orders regarding prescription drug prices. While he did not provide any further information the Washington Post published an article about what one of the orders is likely to be. .TSCL recently sent a letter to every office in Congress calling for enactment of legislation that would provide an emergency COLA, would prevent an anticipated Medicare Part B premium and deductible spike of more than 22%, as well as legislation that would result in a more fair and accurate COLA using the CPI-E in the future. .I'm 63 and still working. I originally planned to wait until age 66 to start benefits, but I need extra income. Could you give me some ideas about when I should start? ."This is the right time to act. Our trust funds are approaching insolvency even more quickly because of the pandemic," Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who is leading the effort, said last Monday on the Senate floor. "It is far better to prepare and hopefully prevent a crisis than wait for a crisis to fall upon us." .The campaign consisted of collecting and organizing TSCL-supporter signatures by each Congressional district. A personalized letter addressed to nearly each House Member was drafted to clearly convey the needs of our supporters and issue a call to action asking each office to look more closely at these issues. For those who have supported our causes in the past, these letters served as a "thank you" for their support. For many, however, the petitions signaled a clear and powerful message on behalf of their constituents that the time had come to make a concerted effort to stand up for seniors' rights. .The Senior Citizens League was pleased to see support grow for these three bills this week, and we thank the new cosponsors for their support. In the months ahead, we will continue to advocate for the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act, the Social Security 2100 Act, and the Fair COLA for Seniors Act, and we urge Congress to enact them this year. .Despite the new endorsement from the Freedom Caucus, leaders in the House do not yet have the votes needed to win passage. On Thursday evening, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) told reporters, "We've been making great progress, and when we have the votes we'll vote on it." .Since the November announcement from UnitedHealth, doctors have started to receive termination letters citing "significant changes and pressures in the health-care environment." Doctors who receive the notices had only thirty days to appeal the decision, and if they are dropped from the network, their patients may not find out until they go to schedule their next appointment. .A new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that undocumented immigrants who receive work authorization are eligible to receive Social Security and Medicare benefits on the basis of their work history. Under current law there's no citizenship requirement to receive benefits, but individuals must be lawfully present in the U.S. That will mean higher spending on Social Security and Medicare in the future, the CBO said. While the CBO said new payroll taxes would boost Social Security and Medicare's financial condition in the short term, in the long term federal spending would increase significantly as those people became eligible for benefits.