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  • Benefit Bulletin September 2011 Advisor

    "This leaves 20 percent of survey participants who just aren't sure if their Social Security benefits will be taxable this tax season or not, more than triple the 6 percent who were uncertain about the 2019 tax year," Johnson says. The survey, which was conducted online from mid-January through February, had more than 864 participants. .In addition, TSCL encourages its members and supporters to vote on election day, which is next week, on November 8th. To best be prepared, check out our list of election day resources right HERE. To see if your Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings in the days ahead, call their local offices. You can find contact information HERE. For more sample town hall questions, click HERE. .The basic science that has allowed the small company to move so rapidly was developed with a huge prior infusion of federal money to come up with a treatment for diseases like Zika. … Continued

  • Category Issues Social Security Notch Faqs Feed

    In 2007 an analysis released by TSCL estimated that if 6 million illegal workers were to gain work authorization it would cost Social Security alone more than .6 trillion in benefits through 204Under current law, if illegal immigrants get work authorization at some point they could file claim for Social Security benefits. Currently the Social Security Administration uses all reported earnings to determine entitlement to benefits, including earnings for jobs worked illegally if the worker has kept evidence, like W2s, of earnings. .TSCL is hopeful that lawmakers will successfully repeal and replace the SGR before the looming deadline, since doing so would bring much-needed stability to the Medicare program. We will continue to monitor the negotiations in the coming weeks, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website. .The legislative proposal also does not specify whether the locality pay adjustment would be applied in addition to the COLA or used instead of a COLA. If the intention is to add a second adjustment in addition to the COLA my guess is that many retirees would welcome the additional boost. Should the proposal be intended to replace the COLA that brings a higher level of uncertainty to the annual adjustments than we already experience. For people who live in areas where private sector pay is on an even level with federal pay or lower, those retirees may wind up with little or no locality pay adjustment, perhaps over the course of many years. … Continued

While the Commission's plan received the support of a majority of the 18-member commission, the plan was three votes shy of the 14 votes needed to force Congressional action. Nevertheless, both President Obama and Congressional leaders said they would include many of the recommended proposals in their upcoming budgets for fiscal 2012, which are due soon. .SGR Repeal Unlikely This Month .Deductible: During the initial deductible, the beneficiary pays 100% of the cost of the drug—up to 5 depending on the plan. Many plans provide immediate coverage on generics, and even preferred brand drugs "before the deductible." In this type of plan, you only pay the full price up to the deductible on higher tier drugs, and some plans don't charge a deductible at all. .Sources: "Measuring Up: The Case for the Chained CPI," Rosenberg, Goldwein, Moment of Truth Project, May 11, 201"Changes in Calculating the Consumer Price Indexes," Congressional Budget Office, September 1997. .According to the committee's report, AbbVie has raked in more than 0 billion in net revenue from those two drugs since 2013, which the committee said was "driven in large part by AbbVie executives' decision to repeatedly raise the prices of Humira and Imbruvica." The company's top executives pocketed 0 million in compensation during that span, "much of which was directly linked to revenue increases," the report said. .Last year President Trump proposed lowering the prices of certain Medicare drug prices by tying those prices to lower prices paid in other developed countries. Under that proposal, prices would have been lower than they are now, but would still be a certain percentage higher than they are in other countries. The President was not satisfied with that idea, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. On Wednesday Azar said the President wants the proposal changed so that prices in the United States are even lower than they are in other countries. .But it's no "small change," warns The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), one of the nation's largest nonpartisan seniors groups. In fact, it could reduce lifetime Social Security benefits by tens of thousands of dollars over a retirement. .This week, the Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) saw one key bills gain support. .An Emergency COLA in 2021 Would Prevent Economic Insecurity and An Unprecedented Medicare Part B Premium Increase for Older Americans.