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  • Legislative Update November 2010 Advisor

    Screen your calls: Even if you have caller ID, experts suggest screening calls any way. More robo-callers are making their calls appear to be local by using phone numbers from your own local calling area. Unless you know the number of the caller is legit, don't pick up. Legitimate callers, such as your doctor's office calling to remind of an appointment, will leave a message. Tell your family and friends to leave a message and to keep talking at least long enough for you to get to the phone if your phone's speaker allows you to hear the caller's message. .TSCL has not given up our goal of Notch reform. In recent months we have been working with long-term Notch reform allies in Congress to ensure that Notch Babies', needs are protected from deficit reduction plans that would affect people who are currently retired. .No further information about the bill is available at this point but as soon as it is TSCL will review it to determine whether we will support it. … Continued

  • Frequently Asked Questions About Tscl And Membership

    In yet a third judicial ruling, The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a rule by the Trump Administration that hospitals will have to publicly disclose the prices they negotiate with insurance companies. .Things could get worse for older households. Some economists and policy makers worry that the new economic stimulus will cause consumer prices to spiral. Consumer price index data through February showed a big jump in some prices and suggests that the next Social Security COLA may in fact be much higher — the highest since 2019 when the COLA was 2.8%. "But right now, those higher prices erode the buying power of Social Security benefits," says Johnson who studies the impact that rising prices have on the purchasing power of Social Security recipients. According to research by Johnson, from January of 2000 to January of 2020, Social Security benefits have already lost 30 percent of buying power. .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. … Continued

Unfortunately, this has become standard operating procedure in Congress, regardless of who's in power. And even shutting down the government for a period of time is no longer seen to be the drastic action it once was. .All costs cited include premiums and prescription out-of-pocket. .These success stories would not have been possible without the support from tens of thousands of advocates like you who are banding together with TSCL to protect Social Security and Medicare. Once again, TSCL's legislative team has big goals this year. Since the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced seniors would not receive a benefit increase in 2016, we have been advocating tirelessly for an emergency cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security beneficiaries. Two bills that are now before Congress – the Seniors Deserve a Raise Act (H.R. 3761) and the SAVE Benefits Act (S. 2251, H.R. 4012) – would provide benefit increases of 2.9 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively. In the months ahead we will continue to encourage lawmakers to sign these bills into law because retired and disabled Americans need relief this year. .Reducing prescription drug prices is a top issue for older voters. Seventy – two percent of survey participants support a proposal to tie Medicare Part D drugs prices to those paid in other industrialized nations, through the use of an "international drug pricing index" — an approach similar to prescription drug legislation passed by the House (H.R. 3). .TSCL surveys confirm that costs for older Americans continued to climb despite no COLA this year. A recent TSCL survey found that 72 percent of respondents reported that their monthly household expenses rose by more than in 2015. .The additional coronavirus emergency legislation is likely to crowd out many other items that were once on the Congressional priority lists for the summer. As a result, the list of other "must pass" legislation is increasingly small, with priority being given to bills to fund the federal government and renew Pentagon programs. .Because Medicare is such a crucial program, most members of Congress usually stumble over themselves to protect it. However, if the situation ever presents itself, they will use threats to Medicare to bash the other party. .Also last week, House Democrats unveiled a range of health care measures to be included in their coming .5 trillion package, including provisions to lower prescription drug prices and expand Medicaid in the 12 GOP-led states that have refused to do so. The measure unveiled by the House Energy and Commerce Committee includes legislation to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices, known as H.R. 3. .TSCL believes several of the proposals under consideration would make the program unaffordable over time for the majority of beneficiaries. According to a new TSCL survey, more than one quarter of Medicare beneficiaries spend as much as 50% of their Social Security payments just to cover healthcare costs. TSCL recently delivered a listing of hundreds of thousands of petition signers from supporters to almost every Member of Congress and is continuing to convey concerns about plans to cut Social Security and Medicare.