News
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Government Turns Over Copy Of Totalization Agreement With Mexico
The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) relies on donations from supporters to carry out its mission on behalf of senior citizens and retirees. The organization does not receive any government funding. .I don't have dental insurance and pay out of pocket. I know I will need to get some expensive work done at some point in the next year or two. Is dental insurance worth the cost? How do you go about getting a good dental plan? .Unfortunately, no. The highly controversial U.S. Social Security Totalization Agreement with Mexico that was signed by the Bush Administration is still pending. The agreement has not been submitted for review to the President or Congress, but that could quickly change, particularly in an election year. TSCL believes that if put into effect as it currently is written, the agreement would drain funds away from Social Security that are needed for the benefits of U.S. senior citizens. Totalization agreements were designed to eliminate dual taxation that occurs when a workers from one country works in another country and is required to pay Social Security taxes to both countries on the same earnings. … Continued
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How Social Security Calculates Benefits Based On Illegal Work
(Washington, DC) – Older Americans are not to blame for an exploding federal budget deficit warns The Senior Citizens League. "Congress can't cut taxes by an estimated .7 trillion and then turn around and blame rising deficits on ‘entitlements' and aging," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. ."Many of the most-expensive medications are the biologic treatments that we often see advertised on television," Mulcahy said. .About 30 percent of the "other than legal " immigrants who were living in the U.S., and age 62 in 2000, would be eligible to receive retiree benefits. … Continued
Changes in U.S. immigration polices impact the finances of Social Security and Medicare. Policies that expand legal immigration would result in new payroll tax revenues from immigrant workers flowing into Social Security and Medicare, strengthening program finances. On the other hand, policies that provide new work authorization to immigrants who are already working in this country illegally would provide new access to Social Security and Medicare benefits that could be based, at least in part, on earnings worked under invalid or fraudulent Social Security numbers. .Representative John Garamendi (CA-3) introduced H.R. 1553 on March 6, 201It has since been referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. .The Senate was not in session and is scheduled to return on January 25th. .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! .Lowering drug prices is one of the highest priorities of TSCL and we will be working very hard to get legislation passed this year. .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. .TSCL supports these bills enthusiastically, and we were pleased to see support grow for them this week. For more information, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. .TSCL is relieved that Members of Congress came to an agreement this week, since another government shutdown like last year's would have severely affected Social Security and Medicare benefits for seniors. However, lawmakers will need to revisit the spending debate in ten short weeks since the temporary bill expires on December 11th. TSCL will continue to monitor the discussions in the meantime, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website. .The Senior Citizens League proposes that Congress enact an emergency COLA or one - time benefit boost payable for 202TSCL supports legislation that would ensure that COLAs are no less than 3 percent. But the organization also recognizes that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in its January 2020 baseline, estimated that a 2.5 percent COLA would be payable for 202Thus, providing a 2.5 percent emergency COLA would provide what has already been projected for Social Security benefits by the CBO.