News

  • First Tax Cuts Affects People Highest Healthcare Costs

    TSCL encourages its members and supporters to attend these events and to ask questions of their elected officials about important Social Security and Medicare issues, like the following four… .The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed charges against more than half a dozen people accused of pushing silver products and other fake treatments for Covid-1The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has gotten the marketer of a Vitamin C supplement to stop claiming it can treat the virus. And the FTC and Food and Drug Administration have been sending dozens of joint warning letters to companies for touting unapproved treatments or preventatives. .A few years later, under 2003 Medicare drug legislation, funding for private plans was significantly boosted and the program got rebranded as "Medicare Advantage." Enrollment grew steadily and rapidly ever since. But by 2009, government economists reported that the payments to the plans cost the federal government 14 percent more than the same services would have cost under traditional Medicare. … Continued

  • The Senior Citizens League Tscl Weekly Update For Week Ending May 15 2020

    The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently issued a cost estimate citing the Joint Committee on Taxation's estimates of the cost for Social Security of about 6 billion in reduced SS revenues between 2020 -2021, increased revenues from repayments of 9 billion between 2022-2023, and about billion in higher outlays which would be due to administrative and debt costs. The CBO assumes that some companies will go out of business and would be unable to repay deferred taxes — about billion in Social Security revenues. The CBO warned that uncertainties its estimate of the CARES Act are high, and that actual outcomes could vary significantly. .Use a consumer price index that better reflects the costs of retirees — the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). .If adopted, this key bill would improve Social Security COLAs by basing them on the CPI-E, and it would cover the cost by phasing out the payroll tax cap over the course of seven years. Together, these changes would improve the adequacy of Social Security benefits and strengthen the solvency of the Trust Funds past 2035. … Continued

First, re-shop your Medicare prescription drug coverage every fall during Open Enrollment season -- and the same goes for Medicare Advantage if you're in one of these plans. Insurance companies often change their offerings year-to-year in ways that can increase drug costs by hundreds of dollars, or make it more difficult to get certain drugs. At the same time, your drug needs may have changed since the last plan selection period in ways that make a plan less beneficial for you. .When he first ran for office, candidate Trump promised he would not make any attempt to cut Social Security or Medicare while he is President. But in an interview this week with CNBC's Joe Kernan, and definitely something we will be keeping a close eye on, President Trump mentioned in a news conference that cutting entitlements (Social Security and Medicare) is not off the table. .It eliminated the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This fifteen-member board of unelected officials was created by the Affordable Care Act in 2010 to keep Medicare spending down when it exceeded a certain level. While that level was never surpassed and no members were ever appointed to the board, TSCL felt that it could have threatened access to quality medical care for Medicare beneficiaries since it had the power to cut payments to doctors and limit networks of providers. TSCL has advocated for bipartisan legislation for years that would have eliminated the IPAB, and we were pleased that the Bipartisan Budget Act did just that. .Today's working women, even those who worked in the same positions as men, tend to earn less during their working careers. The Economic Policy Institute reports that to every dollar a man makes, women of Asian descent earn 88 cents, Caucasian women make 81 cents, African American women make 65 cents, and Hispanic women make 59 cents. This only worsens the low lifetime earnings problem. .In the meantime, though, as businesses re-open and we return to a new version of normal, it's important to stay vigilant. .Medicare investigations returned for every dollar invested in recent years. Let's tell Congress to stop being so "penny wise and pound foolish." Sequester cuts are like writing a blank check for crooks, and have no place in Medicare fraud control programs. Ask your Member of Congress to cosponsor The PRIME Act (H.R. 2305) and (S.1123.) .Since people often move when they retire, under locality pay adjustment rates, the area they choose to live in during retirement could significantly impact the amount of Social Security they receive. Would retirees crowd into areas of the country with high locality pay adjustments? .In the weeks ahead, TSCL will keep a close eye on the issue, and we will advocate for solutions that will improve access without jeopardizing online security. For progress updates, visit the Legislative News section of our website or follow us on Twitter. .Now, it turns out, AbbVie is helping to fund ads attacking legislation that would lower prescription drug costs.