News

  • Candidates Stand Medicare

    New coronavirus legislation in the works .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! ."For those who don't like these executive actions, there's time to get to the table and back a legislative solution," Grassley said in a statement. "I will continue the fight in Congress until significant prescription drug pricing legislation becomes law. The next coronavirus relief bill presents the perfect opportunity for Congress to meet the moment." … Continued

  • Best Ways Save December 2018

    As outrageous as it is, there are reports of scams involving phony appointments for the COVID vaccine. People have received emails, phone calls or text messages supposedly from local health departments offering to put them on a vaccine registration list that doesn't really exist and then charging them for appointments. .Very modestly boosting the payroll tax paid by workers and matched by employers to employers. .In 2018 Sally will finally get a COLA of 2% raising her monthly benefit of ,003 by .10 to ,023.However, if Medicare Part B premiums would be 4 per month in 2018 — Sally would need a COLA of .10 to cover the full cost of Part B premiums. Because Sally's benefit only increased .10, the increase in her Part B premium cannot exceed that amount. Thus Sally will continue to receive hold harmless protection and her monthly Medicare Part B premium would be adjusted downwards to 8.00 (7.90 + .10) to avoid reduction of her Social Security benefit. … Continued

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. .TSCL's research has consistently found that Medicare Part B premiums rank as one of the fastest growing senior costs. Yet Medicare premium costs are not included in the measure currently used to determine the annual COLA — one major reason why COLAs do such a poor job of keeping up with rising healthcare costs. TSCL continues to lobby for a more fair and accurate COLA and supports legislation that would use a seniors' index — like the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) — to determine the annual boost. .The second session of the 113th Congress is nearing its end, and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) is pleased to report that 2014 has been a year to remember. Over the past few months, TSCL has hand-delivered hundreds of thousands of petitions to Members of Congress, urging them to support critical legislation like the CPI-E Act, the Notch Fairness Act, and the Strengthening Social Security Act. In the weeks leading up to the November elections, we sent out thousands of emails to members and supporters in an effort to help them get to know TSCL's long-time friends in Congress. .TSCL enthusiastically supports H.R. 1030, H.R. 3118, and H.R. 1795, and we were pleased to see support grow for them this week. .We know that COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing COVID-19 disease, especially severe illness, and death. .Action on Capitol Hill was slow this week as Members of Congress remained in their home states and districts to prepare for the November 6th election. They are not expected to return to Capitol Hill until after the Veterans Day holiday, on Tuesday, November 13th. TSCL would like to remind you that many Members of Congress will attend local events or hold town hall meetings in the upcoming weeks, giving voters an excellent opportunity to voice their concerns. We encourage you to approach your Senators and Representatives to request their support for fair cost-of-living adjustments and other key issues. .If signed into law, H.R. 242 would require the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare Part D beneficiaries. Currently, Medicare is prohibited from doing so despite the fact that other federal health programs are required to. If adopted, H.R. 242 would go a long way in reducing the costs of lifesaving medications for millions of Part D beneficiaries, and it would result in lower spending on prescription drugs for the Medicare program. .This week, the Social Security Administration (SSA) revealed that it has been overpaying almost half of all Disability Insurance (DI) enrollees, and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) saw one key bill gain critical support. .Locality pay adjustments are currently used to adjust the paychecks of federal workers. Federal employees receive a two-part pay adjustment that includes base pay (which is established by a specific formula set by law) and locality pay adjustments. The locality pay adjustment varies depending on where the employee works. The parameters aren't set by law but use metropolitan statistical areas to define locality pay areas.