News

  • Prescription Drug Costs

    MedPAC also recommended increased financial assistance for low-income Medicare beneficiaries in its report. Currently, those with incomes up to 135 percent of the federal poverty level qualify for Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs), which help beneficiaries cover the cost of Part B premiums. The Commissioners recommended extending the subsidy to those with incomes up to 150 percent of the poverty level. This would save those who qualify approximately ,300 a year in Part B premium costs, and the Commissioners believe it would "free up resources" for beneficiaries who are currently struggling to pay out-of-pocket costs. .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. .According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), wages are growing faster for people who earn more than the Social Security taxable maximum than for people earning less. The CBO projects that this unequal growth in earnings will cause a decline in revenues received by the Social Security Trust Fund over the next decade. … Continued

  • H R 1585 Guaranteed 3 Cola Act

    On Tuesday, House lawmakers advanced two Senate-passed bills that will reduce prescription drug prices at pharmacies if signed into law. The Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act (S. 2554) will prohibit "gag clauses" that prevent pharmacists from telling consumers when it would be cheaper to purchase their prescriptions out-of-pocket rather than through their health insurance. Similarly, the Know the Lowest Price Act (S. 2553) will protect Medicare beneficiaries from "gag clauses." .When hold harmless is triggered program-wide as in 2016, however, there is no specific provision of law with which to finance the unpaid portion of Medicare Part B premium increases for the roughly 43 million who are protected by the provision. In the past, Congress has chosen to allow this cost burden to shift to the 30 percent of beneficiaries who are not held harmless. Because the cost is spread over far fewer people instead of all beneficiaries, they pay a far larger share of the costs, thus the Part B premium spikes. ."We found consistently high U.S. brand-name prices regardless of our methodological decisions," said Mulcahy, a senior health policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. … Continued

For more information about town hall meetings near you in the days ahead, call the local offices of your Members of Congress. For contact information, click HERE. .Legislators cannot effectively operate on their own without the input of those who elected them. After all, the Constitution guarantees "the right of the people to petition the government for redress of grievance," acknowledging that calling upon our elected representatives is a fundamental principle of our democracy. TSCL's grassroots petition campaign highlighted this freedom and successfully grabbed not just the ears, but the eyes and attention of Congress toward the concerns of millions of seniors nationwide. .Is his condition found on the Social Security Administration's list of disabling conditions? This is a list of medical conditions that the Social Security Administration considers so severe that it prevents a person from completing substantial gainful activity. .Medicare part B was not paid for by increasing taxes but is paid for by borrowing money. So were the tax cuts that the President supported, and Congress passed in 2017. .TSCL strongly supports legislation that would provide 70 million Americans with a one-time emergency COLA payment of 3.9% (0). The Seniors and Veterans Emergency (SAVE) Benefits Act (S.2251) was introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren, and a companion bill was introduced in the House by Representative Alan Grayson, H.R. 4012. .The new Antimicrobial Action Fund will look to buy or invest in small antibiotic companies and their products and will work with the World Health Organization and the European Investment Bank to identify promising prospects. The fund is expected to start operations by the end of the year and hopes to bring to market at least two to four novel antibiotics by 2030. .In order to learn more about what services you are eligible for under Medicare, call 1-800-MEDICARE ( 7), a State Health Insurance Assistance Program counselor at your Area Agency on Aging, or your Member of Congress. .Last year, under Shkreli's direction, Turing Pharmaceuticals made headlines for buying the rights to a decades-old anti-infective drug and hiking its price from .50 per pill to 0 per pill. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had tough questions for Turing's representatives at Thursday's hearing, and each of them expressed their dismay for the price gouging that is occurring in the pharmaceutical market. .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).