

News
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Medicare Fraud Program Cut Congress Considers Higher Medicare Costs For Seniors
Providing help in emergencies, such as utility shutoffs, and .More information available on our website: .This week the House of Representatives is expected to pass the final version of President Biden's .9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, after which the President will sign it and it will become law. … Continued
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Legislative Update Week Ending May 19 2017
The Social Security Notch is the unexpectedly steep drop in benefits that affects people born from 1917 through 192This generation of seniors receives lower benefits than other seniors who had nearly identical work and earnings histories. .2014 Annual Survey of Senior Costs, Mary Johnson, The Senior Citizens League, March 2014. .Holiday Recess Begins … Continued
Action on Capitol Hill slowed down this week as Members of Congress returned to their home states and districts for the week-long holiday recess. Meanwhile, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) announced its support for Medicare fraud prevention legislation, and one key bill gained a new cosponsor. .— have few or better yet — no health problems, and .A recent TSCL poll indicates that retirees are split between housing and healthcare costs as the hardest to cover. Forty percent of respondents said that housing, heat and utilities were hardest. Another 40% said healthcare and medications were hardest. Sixteen percent said nourishing food. Four percent said transportation was their most difficult cost. .There was also a bipartisan proposal from Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that gained support in the Senate but it did not include price negotiation, and again, McConnell refused to bring the bill to the floor in an election year. .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. .Now we are looking for viral deliverance when drug development is one of the world's most lucrative businesses, ownership of drug patents is disputed in endless court battles, and monopoly power often lets manufacturers set any price, no matter how extraordinary. A new cancer treatment can cost a half-million dollars, and old staples like insulin have risen manifold in price to thousands of dollars annually. .Legislation passed in 1983 required all Members of Congress to pay into Social Security. That said, like all high-income workers, they only pay Social Security up to the maximum taxable wage, which in 2012 is 0,100. Thus Members of Congress pay no Social Security taxes on the additional ,900 they receive as salary. Since Members of Congress are high-income earners, they are also in line for the maximum tax break due to the payroll tax cut extension. The payroll tax rate has temporarily been cut by 2%, meaning Members of Congress will save ,002 in 2012. .The suit is over Obama's executive actions on immigration announced last November. The executive actions would expand a program that protects immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Another major part of the orders would extend deportation protection and provide work-authorized Social Security numbers to illegal immigrants who are parents of children born in this country and who have lived in this country for some years. .The federal government negotiates prescription drug prices for Medicaid and for veterans, but it is not allowed to negotiate lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. Do you support this policy?