News

  • Category Issues Cola Faqs

    TSCL's legislative team will be monitoring the tax reform discussions closely in the coming days and weeks, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. In the meantime, we encourage our supporters to contact their Members of Congress to request their opposition to tax reform measures that will jeopardize the health and financial security of older Americans. For contact information, click HERE. .Survey participants also support making changes to modestly increase benefits by using a senior CPI, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), to determine the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA), and to provide a boost of about per month. TSCL is meeting with Members of Congress to enact these changes. With 73% of survey participants reporting that their household expenses in 2015 rose by more than a month, while average Social Security benefits are stuck around ,250 due to low or no COLAs, TSCL is making a strong case that older Americans need a raise! .Medicare Part D is a rip off. My wife and I will pay more for our medication now, because we cannot afford to take the risk of not enrolling. We were getting most of our drugs from Canada, but under Part D we not only have to pay a monthly premium, but also have co-pays, plus much higher prices for our medication to meet the deductible or if we hit the doughnut hole. Forcing us to do this is simply not fair. What happened to the legislation to legalize the importation of drugs from Canada? … Continued

  • Issues Totalization Agreement

    The annual COLA increased Social Security benefits in January of 2021 by just 1.3 percent. While mild inflation in 2020 did improve the buying power of Social Security benefits by 2 percentage points through 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," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). Based on consumer price data through July 2021, the erosion in the buying power of Social Security benefits has deepened to 32 percent over the 2year period. .The Notch years are 1917 through 1926, but this is subject to some controversy. To read more detail, click here: What is the "Notch"? .Other critics say that revising the government's purchasing rules will not provide a quick solution to the supply shortages of the current pandemic. "Making Buy American provisions tighter during the current crisis would likely do more harm than good," according to William Reinsch and Jack Caporal of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. … Continued

If you asked a Social Security recipient for a penny for their thoughts on next year's projected 0.2% cost of living adjustment, they could give it to you, but they'd only have .99 left. .Drug spending nationally increased by 76% between 2000 and 2017, and the costs are expected to increase faster than other areas of healthcare over the next decade as new, expensive specialty drugs are approved, according to the researchers. .Key Bills Gain Support in Congress .Currently, Social Security COLAs are based on the way young, urban workers spend their money, and because items like gasoline and electronics are weighted more heavily than medical costs and housing expenses, they underestimate the inflation Social Security beneficiaries experience. For example, this year, if COLAs were based on the spending patterns of seniors, Social Security beneficiaries would be receiving a COLA of around 2 percent instead of a 0.3 percent increase. .As a proud affiliate of TREThe Enlisted Association, and because many of TSCL supporters are military retirees we keep a close eye on the health benefits of military retirees. .Repealing Obamacare would affect several people that I know, including my sister who is getting treated for cancer. She can't afford to lose her insurance and we both are very stressed about what could happen. I'm wondering about Members of Congress. What sort of health insurance do they get? Who pays for their health insurance? .The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) will be monitoring CR discussions in the Senate in the coming hours and days, and we will post updates on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, we will continue to monitor ongoing budget discussions since they are expected to include plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. As was noted in a recent legislation update, repealing the law would impact the Medicare program in several ways. For instance, progress that has been made to close the prescription drug "doughnut hole" would be reversed, and the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund that finances Medicare Part A would lose an important stream of funding that the law created. The Trust Fund could face immediate depletion if eliminated. .In addition, Avik Roy – Co-Founder and President of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity – suggested that lawmakers focus on increased transparency in the pharmaceutical industry. He said if action is not taken reduce prescription drug prices, "the poor, vulnerable, and elderly have the most to lose." .Additionally, in less than two years, the Social Security Disability Insurance trust fund will become insolvent, and approximately 11 million beneficiaries will be faced with a 20 percent cut in monthly benefits. Many lawmakers are hoping to divert funds from the retirement trust fund in order to address the funding shortfall, but according to our recent survey results, less than 1 percent of seniors support this method. Instead, TSCL will be advocating for policy solutions that would tighten the eligibility requirements for the Disability Insurance program and ramp up efforts to fight fraud, waste, and abuse.