News

  • Private Medicare Plans Too Costly Congress Told 2

    This week, TSCL's Board of Trustees traveled to Washington, D.C. for their first meeting of the year. TSCL's all-volunteer Board of Trustees includes the following members: Edward Cates, Chairman; Tom O'Connell, Vice-Chairman; Charlie Flowers, Secretary; John Martinez, Treasurer; Michael Gales, PAC Treasurer; Rick Delaney, President and Liaison of The Retired Enlisted Association; and Larry Hyland, Immediate Past Chairman of TSCL. .Lawmakers Adjourn for Holiday Recess .As the Representative for Indiana's Seventh Congressional District, I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with many seniors during my Medicare forums. These seniors have uniformly shared concern that they will bear the lion's share of the burden of Congress' failure to come to a constructive resolution on our nation's debt. As cuts to Medicare and Social Security have been put on the table, seniors are wondering whether their health or their standard of living is in jeopardy. In this difficult economic climate, we must ensure that changes to either of these programs do not deprive seniors of the ability to fend for themselves. … Continued

  • New Poll 69 Of Seniors Favor Repeal Of Obamacare

    Five years after IPAB's creation, it still has no appointed members and, due to record-low growth in healthcare costs, it hasn't been triggered to make recommendations to Congress yet. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, says she doesn't expect it to be triggered until 201But hundreds of lawmakers have serious concerns about the prospect of the board since it would be comprised of unelected and unaccountable appointees. They are hoping to pass legislation that would do away with it by the end of this year. .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. .The study says the program would have saved 7 million that year if generics had been substituted for all the brand-name medicines requested by prescribers. Additionally, if Medicare patients had sought generics instead of brand-name drugs, Medicare Part D would have saved another 3 million. … Continued

Sources: Statement: Social Security Payments Go Paperless, Honorable Patrick P. O'Carroll, Jr., Inspector General, Social Security Administration, June 19, 2013. .Make no mistake: millions of American families and our entire economy depend on getting mature workers the right skills for today's jobs. We need them back at work, earning good salaries, investing in their retirement, mentoring young workers and driving our economy forward. .House Adjourns for Five-Week Summer Recess .In addition, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) is prohibited from negotiating directly with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of the more than 40 million Americans who get their prescription drug coverage from Medicare Part D. .The U.S. depends on China for thousands of chemicals needed to make prescription drugs. That's because it turns out that pharmaceutical companies have outsourced our generic medicine manufacturing to China. .Each year, due to a faulty formula that's used to determine Medicare's reimbursement rates, doctors are threatened with sizable pay cuts. This year, if Congress fails to act, doctors will face a 25 percent cut. Lawmakers consistently override scheduled pay cuts with temporary "fixes," but many doctors have grown tired of the ritual and have stopped treating Medicare patients. The estimated cost of repealing the formula has recently dropped dramatically, and many are hoping to replace it in the coming months. Doing so would provide much-needed stability for Medicare beneficiaries. .To view our full legislative agenda, click HERE, and to learn more about these issues listed above, click HERE. .TSCL believes this type of mathematical gimmickry shortchanges the measurement of real cost increases, thereby shortchanging the COLAs of almost 58 million beneficiaries. Yet this is just one of many such changes since 198TSCL believes that the strongest protection Social Security recipients have against such machinations of benefits is legislation that would guarantee that COLAs would be no less than 3%. This could be paid for by lifting the Social Security taxable maximum so that high-income earners making more than 8,500 pay their fair share of taxes. This not only is fair, but would ensure more adequate benefits for all retirees. .The SEC chairman would appoint a director to lead the task force, which would include staff from several offices at the commission. Task force members would not receive additional compensation.