News

  • Legislative Update Week Ending August 17 2018

    The future of the AHCA remains uncertain in the House, and in the Senate, lawmakers have been even more cautious about its prospects. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (TX) said: "Once [House lawmakers] pass the bill, my assumption is, the Senate's going to take a look at it but not necessarily be rubber-stamping what they're proposing. I would anticipate that we'll do what we used to do all the time which is, the House will pass a bill, we'll pass a bill, and then we'll reconcile those in a conference committee." .(For more details see our "FAHow ‘Undocumented' Workers Are Becoming Entitled To Social Security.") Of particular importance is an exception that applies to immigrants receiving benefits living in a country with which the U.S. has a totalization agreement. It appears that under the U.S./Mexico Totalization Agreement, all that any illegal Mexican worker must do to qualify for benefits is return to Mexico. Once a claim has been filed, the U.S. Social Security system counts all earnings, even for jobs worked without legal authorization, to determine entitlement to benefits. TSCL is particularly wary of how the 2012 presidential election may affect the status of the agreement. And, even if voters send a new president to the White House, the agreement will continue to remain pending even if no action is taken by President Obama, for the next President's consideration. .Passing a short-term funding bill to keep the government operating past September 30th is the last major hurdle lawmakers must tackle before the November elections. It remains to be seen whether or not they will successfully negotiate a CR before the quickly approaching deadline. In the days ahead, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) will keep a close eye on the talks since failing to pass a CR would likely impact Social Security beneficiaries and Medicare doctors negatively. For updates, visit the Legislative News section of our website. … Continued

  • No Annual Cost Of Living Adjustment Expected For Next Year

    Lawmakers End Partial Government Shutdown .This week, lawmakers returned to Washington and quickly began working on legislation to stave off a government shutdown, which could occur on December 11th if Congress fails to reach a compromise. In addition, The Senior Citizens League saw two key bills gain support. .One widely-discussed proposal would limit the drop in benefits when a spouse dies to 75% of the couple's combined benefit. In the example above that would boost the widow's benefit by 0 per month to ,800. … Continued

Some policy analysts argue that the "chained" CPI is more accurate, but the Congressional Budget Office has stated that using that index has limitations. Unlike the conventional consumer price index in which final data from one month to the next is available in about two weeks, final data for the chained CPI isn't available until well over a year and a half. "That means preliminary estimates that are subject to error would have to be used for indexing," Johnson explains. .Even though I'm not on Medicare yet, these new quality initiatives will, one way or another will affect most patients, even those like me who are still under the age of 65 as doctors reorganize. I felt dumped. .While the policy will mean that Medicare would spend less, patients will spend more— often, a lot more, and the charges would broadside most beneficiaries, coming as a complete surprise. TSCL is strongly opposed to this type of backdoor benefit cut, and has written a letter to President Biden urging him to rescind this CMS rule. Please sign our petition! .TSCL enthusiastically supports the bills mentioned above, and we were pleased to see support grow for each of them this week. .In his opening statement, Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (KY-3) said: "[Social Security] is facing serious long-term funding shortfalls, with promised benefits facing cuts as high as 20 percent as soon as 2035 if Congress does not act. Cuts of this level would be devastating for the individuals who rely on Social Security … Congress has a responsibility to act and honor the promise of retirement security." .During the recent government shutdown, a group of feisty World War II vets managed to do what Congress failed miserably to do for another 15 days – reopen a part of our shuttered government. The National Mall and parks in Washington D.C. were closed to visitors. But on day one of the shutdown, CNN reported that "busloads of World War II vets, many in wheel chairs, broke past the barricades to visit the World War II Memorial as onlookers applauded." As the cameras rolled and several Members of Congress were busy trading blame, a line of vets rolled past security officers "who willingly stepped aside," CNN reported. .Lawmakers End Partial Government Shutdown .The FDA has also seen unauthorized fraudulent test kits for COVID-19 being sold online. Currently, the only way to be tested for COVID-19 is to talk to your health care provider. .The federal government negotiates prescription drug prices for Medicaid and for veterans, but it is not allowed to negotiate lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. Do you support this policy?