News

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending March 11 2016

    A surviving beneficiary spouse is one who collects Social Security benefits not from their own account, but from the account of his or her deceased spouse. To find out more about Notch Reform benefits for surviving beneficiaries, click here: What Happens to Benefit Payments When Your Spouse is Deceased? .At Wednesday's hearing, many of the Subcommittee members expressed their support for this model of paid family leave, while others spoke about the detrimental impact it would have on the Social Security program. Senator Sherrod Brown (OH) – Ranking Member of the Subcommittee – said in his opening statement: "Using your retirement security to fund paid time off from work when you have a child is not paid family leave at all – it's robbing from your retirement to be able to care for loved ones now … I want to work together, but a plan that's a first step toward privatizing Social Security – the bedrock of our social safety net – is no place to start." .By delaying the start of your benefit until your full retirement age of 66, your benefit will be 25% higher. Delay until age 70, and your Social Security payment will be 65% higher than if you start it at age 6This can make a huge difference in the monthly income you receive. For example, if entitled to a monthly benefit of ,000 at age 66, you would receive only 0 per month at age 6And if you can delay until age 70 you could take a retirement benefit of ,320. … Continued

  • Issues Social Security Reform Track Bills

    The Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 1391), introduced by Representative John Larson (CT-1). Like the FAIR Social Security Act, this bill would base COLAs on the CPI-E. It would also provide a 2 percent benefit bump for the average beneficiary and create a new minimum benefit set at 25 percent above the poverty line. In addition, more than 11 million seniors would see a significant tax cut, since the bill would double the income threshold for the taxation of benefits from ,000 per individual to ,000, and from ,000 per couple to 0,000. .Protection of the Social Security Trust Fund – Ensuring that the program's assets are locked out of the general budget. .This unexpected policy adjustment is largely attributable to the 6 billion in cuts to Medicare that Obamacare calls for. More than one-fifth of the cuts – approximately 6 billion – are to the Medicare Advantage program, which insures more than one-quarter of all seniors over the age of sixty-five. It's important to note that the savings from the cuts are not going back into the Medicare Trust Fund; instead, the money is going to help pay for the health insurance of younger, working adults under Obamacare. … Continued

The Congressional Budget Office recently issued a report stating that the federal budget will hit the debt limit and run out of cash early to mid-October. Some Congressional leaders have said they would like to vote on the budget and upcoming debt limit negotiations prior to the August recess. TSCL is fighting the proposal through national efforts from grass roots activists. To learn more, visit . .TSCL is strongly opposed to any cut in the payroll tax and we have lobbied aggressively against one. The 2020 reports from the Social Security and Medicare Trustees projected that the Social Security trust funds will become insolvent in only 15 years. At that time, all Social Security beneficiaries would face a 21% benefit cut in benefits that would eventually go to 27%. .During these meetings, the following issues were discussed: Social Security cost-of-living adjustments, Social Security Notch fairness, Social Security Totalization Agreement reform, and repeal of both the windfall elimination provision (WEP) and the government pension offset (GPO). Support was expressed for many of these key issues, and TSCL looks forward to working with these offices in the future. .What do you think? Should health and drug plans be responsible for removing illegals from Medicare rolls? Take a poll on the TSCL homepage today! .Sources: Impact of Alien Nonpayment Provisions on Field Offices Along the Mexican Border, Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, February 2011 A-08-10-20140. Impact of Unauthorized Employment on Social Security Benefits, Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, December 2006, A-14-05-14042. .In making the 1977 changes, Congress, wanting to avoid an abrupt change, allowed persons born from 1917 through 1921 to use a special transitional benefit formula or the new 1977 formula, whichever would yield the higher of the two benefits. The transition benefit formula never delivered the promised benefit protection, however, because it did not yield a higher benefit amount. Instead, the new benefit formula most often yielded the higher amount. .A number of vaccines, including those for flu and pneumonia, might be capable of improving immunity overall, according to one researcher. Scientists are looking at several other potential candidates, including vaccines against herpes viruses and tuberculosis. .To learn more about the problems of disability listen to the NPR story "Unfit for Work" The startling rise of disability in America. .In a recent survey of TSCL's supporters, as many as one-third of respondents said they postponed filling their prescriptions or took less than prescribed due to high costs. They question why Congress hasn't taken action to improve the system and to protect the American public from rising drug costs.