News

  • Q November 2018

    Under the rule he's considering formally proposing, Trump would order reimbursement for certain Part B drugs to be tied to what's known as the International Price Index. That would mean a price cut for many medicines, since the prices drug makers charge outside the U.S. are often set by government-run health-care systems and are generally lower. Medicare doesn't use its position as a big buyer of drugs to bargain for lower prices. .If adopted, the bill would strengthen and reform the Social Security program responsibly, without enacting any benefit cuts for older or disabled Americans. Among other things, it would: boost Social Security benefits by 2 percent, protect against inflation by basing cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) on the CPI-E, create a new minimum benefit set at 125 percent of the poverty line, and cut taxes for over 12 million Social Security beneficiaries. .Social Security Subcommittee Discusses Program's Future … Continued

  • Social Security Pays Fugitives 30 Million Annually

    In 2018, 74% of participants in TSCL's 2018 Senior Survey said to improve Social Security's financing, they support applying the full 12.4% Social Security payroll tax to all earnings, rather than just limiting the amount of wages that are taxable, which is 2,900 in 201Fifty nine percent of survey participants support very gradually raising the Social Security payroll tax by 1% each for workers and employers. TSCL is working to acquaint Congress with Social Security financing changes that have the broadest support among older Americans. .Over five million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's disease, and each year thousands more are diagnosed with this painful, heart-rending illness. Most of us know someone—a family member, coworker or friend—suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia. With the number of Alzheimer's patients expected to skyrocket in the coming decades, we must continue to press forward, offering support for family members and caregivers, while developing better and more effective treatment options as we work toward a cure for this terrible disease. ."Reducing the cost of prescription drugs is essential for both Medicare beneficiaries and Medicare's finances," says Mary Johnson, a Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The average monthly Social Security retiree benefit is just ,552, while spending on prescription drugs is the fastest growing cost that most retirees face in retirement," she says. Over time, drug costs take a growing portion of Social Security income, because prices are rising several times faster than annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs). … Continued

This article focuses on immediate annuities that provide income that starts right away, and lasts over your entire lifetime. (There are deferred annuities that younger investors purchase for later payouts. This type often has a reputation for high sales costs and poor investment performance and is not the topic of this article.) .For information about town hall meetings near you in the final days of the week-long recess, call the local offices of your elected officials. You can find contact information for your Members of Congress right here. .TSCL Meets with Members of Congress .Deferred Action allows immigrants under the age of 33, who entered the country illegally as children, to request consideration of deferred action on deportation. In addition, the program provides temporary work authorization, and valid Social Security numbers. The work permits are good for two years and the Obama Administration recently announced they are taking applications for renewal. .Recently a journalist, familiar with my estimates of cost-of-living adjustments, contacted me for my thoughts on the topic.. What's Missing From Your Social Security Check? For Many — 7 , editor . You are fortunate to already be in a Medicare drug plan that covers Lantus because not all Part D plans do. If your drug plan had been one of the several Medicare Part D plans that doesn't cover Lantus, this drug could cost as much as 0 per 100/ml vial. Many diabetics need about 3 vials per month to control their blood sugar, which would cost more than ,000 over a 12-month period. But since you are in a plan that covers Lantus and presumably the other drugs that you take, here's what to expect when you exhaust 2019's Part D initial coverage limit of ,820 in total drug costs, which includes what both you and your drug plan pays. .The committee found that AbbVie inflated prices for the drugs while its executives pocketed growing bonuses. The committee's two-year investigation found that AbbVie "pursued a variety of tactics to increase drug sales while raising prices for Americans, including exploiting the patent system to extend its market monopoly, abusing orphan drug protections to further block competition, and engaging in anticompetitive pricing practices." .Instead, locality pay increases are intended to keep the salaries of current federal workers competitive with private sector jobs in the same locality pay area. The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures non-federal compensation in a particular market and compares it to federal pay for federal employees who perform similar work in the same region. The gap between the two helps determine the locality pay adjustment for a specific area in a given year. .Key Bills Gain Support in the House and Senate