News

  • 65th Birthday Nears Phone Rings Medicare Robocalls

    Spring Congressional Recess Continues .Recently we heard from Barbara B. of Indiana who was affected in a similar way last year, but who will finally catch up in 201Barbara's net Social Security benefit, after deduction for Part B premium, has remained exactly the same for the past three years. She hasn't seen an increase in her benefits since 2015, despite a 2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2018. .Someone else is working using your Social Security number: If you still can't determine the cause of Social Security's overpayment claim, check your earnings record with the Social Security Administration for accuracy. Identity theft is soaring and earnings from persons unknown may show up on your work record without your knowledge. It's important to correct your record if this happens to you. If this is the case, in addition to checking your records with Social Security, you will need to contact the IRS. Otherwise, the IRS may send you a notice stating that you failed to report everything you earned and that you might owe taxes. … Continued

  • Social Security Medicare Blamed Rising Deficits

    Assistance in paying for low cost home weatherization to make your home more energy efficient. .The FDA has also seen unauthorized fraudulent test kits for COVID-19 being sold online. Currently, the only way to be tested for COVID-19 is to talk to your health care provider. .One of the most important results of this change is that the Senate Majority Leader controls what legislation moves through the Senate. That is crucial in determining what happens in terms of President Biden's agenda in the next two years. … Continued

By Jessie Gibbons, Legislative Analyst .This week, TSCL endorsed two new bills from Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX-35) – the Transparent Drug Pricing Act (H.R. 4116) and the Competitive DRUGS Act (H.R. 4117). If signed into law, the bills would promote transparency in the prescription drug industry and prevent anti-competitive pay-for-delay deals, in which brand-name drug companies pay generic drug makers millions of dollars to delay the introduction of their generic medicines to the market. .TSCL enthusiastically supports the bills mentioned above, and we look forward to helping build support for them in the coming months. .If you do not want to receive e-mails from us in the future, please unsubscribe here. .In normal political times neither party would allow Medicare to be cut. But because of our current highly partisan times, it would require ten Republicans to join with Democrats to stop the cuts to Medicare with new legislation if reconciliation were used. .If your husband's company had 20 or more employees, and your husband's former employer still has the same health coverage, you and your husband may have the option to temporarily continue to get healthcare coverage under your husband's former employer plan as provided by the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). That coverage now, however, is likely to be more expensive than it was while your husband was an active employee, and it's only a short-term option. These are two reasons why both you and your spouse should explore other options promptly. .Yet, millions of your fellow Americans, receive below poverty level checks adding to the wealth disparity and further eroding the middle-class. .This week, TSCL's Board of Trustees traveled to Washington, D.C. for their first meeting of the year. TSCL's all-volunteer Board of Trustees includes the following members: Edward Cates, Chairman; Tom O'Connell, Vice-Chairman; Charlie Flowers, Secretary; John Martinez, Treasurer; Michael Gales, PAC Treasurer; Rick Delaney, President and Liaison of The Retired Enlisted Association; and Larry Hyland, Immediate Past Chairman of TSCL. .Social Security was never designed to be the sole source of retirement income. It replaces around 40 percent of the average earnings of its beneficiaries. Pensions and savings form the two other major streams of retirement income, but people who retire with all three sources of retirement income are rare. Even worse, recent research from the National Institute of Retirement Security found that more than 40% of older adults have no retirement income other than Social Security.