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  • Notch Bulletin June 2011 Advisor

    Services must be those that have earned an "A" or "B" recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. They include: annual wellness visit, blood tests for heart disease, bone mass measurements, diabetes screening, colon cancer screening, diabetes screening, flu shot, hepatitis B vaccine, medical nutrition therapy, pap smears, pelvic exams and clinical breast exams, pneumonia vaccine, prostate cancer screening (PSA test), and screening mammograms. .No. In fact whether he's aware of it or not, your brother-in-law may be involved in a Medicare fraud. If he's receiving payment, free goods or services in exchange for his Medicare number, that's considered a crime than can result in jail time. It's becoming more common, especially in Medicare fraud hot spots like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and the south Florida area where you live. .TSCL feels strongly that the Guaranteed 3 Percent COLA Act would go a long way in ensuring the retirement security seniors have earned and deserve. We lend our enthusiastic support to H.R. 3588, and we look forward to working with Congressman Engle through the remainder of the 114th Congress to help build support for his important new bill. … Continued

  • Best Ways Save December 2018

    When he issued the orders President Trump gave the drug industry until Aug. 24 to find a suitable alternative to one of his drug pricing plans. He also announced that he would be meeting with drug company executives last Tuesday to begin discussions about a different plan. .The decision on when to start benefits is complicated and you should get counseling. The Social Security Administration website has a great deal of information on survivor's benefits at www.socialsecurity.gov as well as contact numbers to reach counselors. For more information about working after starting benefits see How Work Affects Your Benefits Publication Number 05-10069. .Put your mother's apartment on the market and work to sell it. This means giving it a thorough cleaning, a fresh coat of paint if needed, and minor repairs. … Continued

(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. .While there is no estimate of how large the cuts would be under the legislation that just passed, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that a previous version of the Covid relief bill would have triggered about billion in cuts to Medicare in fiscal 2022 and between and billion from other mandatory programs. .The Social Security Administration recently announced that the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will raise benefits by 2.8% for 201The average retirement benefit of ,400 will increase by .20 per month, to ,439.20. The Medicare Part B premium increase for 2019 will be 5.50 per month — just .50 per month more than the 4 in 201The COLA, the highest in 7 years, and a low Medicare Part B premium increase, should mean most retirees can finally expect a modest boost in net Social Security benefits. .Doing nothing and allowing the Social Security recipients to go with just a 1.3% COLA, would be highly detrimental to the Social Security income of all retirees, and would not extend program solvency. TSCL is working to make Members of Congress aware of the need for providing this boost to your Social Security benefits both to strengthen your retirement income and to protect you from huge spikes in the Medicare Part B premium. .My husband survived cancer but his healthcare costs depleted our savings. Do you have suggestions for coping with debt in retirement? .This is certainly the case in Florida's 5th Congressional District, which I represent, where one in every four citizens has received SNAP benefits at some point over the past 12 months, a rate which is nearly twice the national average. It is estimated that only 42 percent of eligible seniors are enrolled in SNAP. SSI and the MSP have similarly low rates among seniors and individuals with disabilities. This is unacceptable. .White House officials and public health leaders said they don't expect a vaccine to be widely available until March or April, which means wearing masks and other non-pharmaceutical measures will likely be the only option to reduce the spread of the virus until the end of February. .Regarding Social Security, TSCL was pleased to see that the President's proposal did not include the "chained" CPI, as it did last year. Many in Congress were also relieved by its absence. Shortly after the blueprint was released, Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) – founder of the Defending Social Security Caucus – said, "I am especially proud that the President did not renew his proposal to cut Social Security benefits. With … more people living in poverty than ever before, we cannot afford to make life even more difficult for seniors." .MedPAC Delivers Report, Testimony to Congress