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  • Congressional Corner Obligation Keep Promise

    The President believes tying drug prices in the U.S. to those in other countries will bring down the prices here. However, the effect of his order won't be seen for some time and will only cover certain prescription drugs. The executive order requires that the secretary of Health and Human Services immediately test a payment model for Medicare to pay "no more than the most-favored-nation price," meaning the lowest price paid in other developed countries, for specific "high-cost" prescription drugs and products. .If you do not want to receive e-mails from us in the future, please unsubscribe here. .Since 1980, the BLS has manipulated the CPI several times so that it no longer measures price inflation. Rather, it measures an ever-changing "market basket" of goods that is adjusted as prices drop and increase. It assumes that shoppers will purchase chicken when steak becomes too expensive, or apples instead of oranges when their prices drop. This has resulted in a more slowly growing COLA for Social Security beneficiaries. Instead of allowing seniors to keep up with rising costs, today's COLA requires them to constantly adjust to lower standards of living. … Continued

  • 2015 F Q Executive Action Immigration Social Security Medicare 2

    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! .Second, six new cosponsors signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 521, H.R. 141), bringing the cosponsor total up to thirty in the Senate and 163 in the House of Representatives. The new cosponsors are: Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA), Senator Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Representative Colin Allred (TX-32), Representative Elaine Luria (VA-2), Representative Susan Davis (CA-53), and Representative Sean Casten (IL-6). .At Wednesday's hearing, many lawmakers seemed to agree that Congress should begin working seriously towards a long-term plan, but it was clear that there is no consensus on what that plan should look like. One member of the committee, Senator Bob Corker (TN), said he would support a plan similar to the Simpson-Bowles proposal of 2010 that would increase Social Security's age of eligibility and adopt the "chained" CPI, among other things. … Continued

The number of observation patients has exploded 88 percent over the past six years, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Medicare has tightened rules for hospital admissions, and usually won't pay for admitted patients who should have been designated as observation status. Consequently, hospitals have increased their share of observation patients. But the rule is not the same for people's private insurance like Medicare Advantage. Most Medicare Advantage plans don't require their enrollees to have a three-day hospital admission in order to receive nursing home coverage, according to an analysis by Avalere Health research firm. .This week, one new cosponsor – Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL-16) – signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 973). The cosponsor total is now up to 13If signed into law, the bill would repeal two federal provisions that unfairly reduce or eliminate the earned Social Security benefits of millions of teachers, firefighters, peace officers, and other state or local government employees each year. TSCL enthusiastically supports the Social Security Fairness Act, and we were pleased to see one new cosponsor sign on to it this week. .The Senior Citizens League enthusiastically supports the four bills mentioned above, and we were pleased to see support grow for them this week. For more information about these and other bills that have been backed by The Senior Citizens League, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. .This week, TSCL's legislative consultants, Former Congressman David Funderburk and Mrs. Betty Funderburk, along with TSCL's legislative assistant, Jarrad Hensley, were on Capitol Hill for meetings with Members of Congress and their top staff. ."The best laid schemes of mice and men oft go awry." That was authored by 18th century poet Robert Burns, and served as the inspiration for the title of John Steinbeck's book, Of Mice and Men, but aptly describes the economic situation facing today's seniors. .In the final weeks of the 111th Congress, TSCL will continue working to prevent cuts to Social Security benefits that are already insufficient for too many of our nation's seniors. .TSCL has been successful in gaining co-sponsors for legislation to address Notch reform. The Notch Fairness Act, introduced in House and Senate by Representative Mike McIntyre (NC-17) and Senator David Vitter (LA) would provide Notch Babies born 1917 through 1926 their choice of ,000 paid in four annual installments, or an improved monthly benefit. As of June 30, seventeen Members of Congress had signed on as co-sponsors. One new cosponsor said he was signing on to The Notch Fairness Act in honor of his father a Notch baby who recently passed away. .TSCL agrees with members of the subcommittee and we share their concerns about fraud within the DI program. We feel strongly that the federal government must administer the necessary oversight to ensure that scarce program dollars are being spent properly. In the months ahead, we will continue to advocate on Capitol Hill for fraud prevention and for the administrative funding needed to make meaningful progress. .Recommended reading: "Get What's Yours - The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security," Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Philip Moeller, Paul Solman, and "How to Make Your Money Last: The Indispensable Retirement Guide," Jane Bryant Quinn.