News

  • Government Waste At Its Worst

    The Social Security Administration also announced on Thursday that the Social Security payroll tax cap will rise from 8,400 in 2018 to 2,900 in 201Most American workers contribute 6.2 percent of every paycheck to the Social Security program, but high earners will stop contributing to the program once they reach 2,900 in income next year. That means the wealthiest American CEOs – many of whom are billionaires – will be finished paying into the Social Security program just a few hours or days into 2019. .This week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D- Calif.) introduced a more than trillion coronavirus aid package, a sweeping effort with trillion in aid for states and cities. It also includes billion for testing people for the novel coronavirus, direct payments of up to ,000 per U.S. household, billion in emergency grants for small business and billion for the U.S. Postal Service, among other things. .Moving between retirement communities and facilities can be burdensome and costly. Here are four things to avoid when looking into retirement living: … Continued

  • Benefit Bulletin December 2018

    Back in April, President Trump picked out a single computer model of coronavirus spread to use for guidance about the coronavirus. It turns out that that model initially had rosier estimates than others, and it projected many fewer Covid-19 deaths. .As we've found out in our meetings with Congressional staff members, Congress is hearing thousands of complaints from voters who want surprise billing stopped. But, they are also hearing from the health care providers who are making a lot of money from surprise billings and they are fighting back to try and stop or modify legislation. Because of the pressure Congress is receiving from opposing sides, getting legislation to fix the problem is more complicated than you might expect. There are four bills in the Senate to deal with the issue and five in the House. .This week, one new cosponsor – Rep. Betty McCollum (MN-4) – signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 1391). The total is now up to sixty-two. If signed into law, H.R. 1391 would increase Social Security benefits by 2 percent, cut taxes for over 11 million seniors, increase the minimum benefit to 125 percent of the poverty line, and make cost-of-living adjustments more fair and accurate. It would also take measures to increase the solvency of the trust fund beyond the next seventy-five years, through the year 2100. … Continued

Medicare Advantage Plans May Offer New Supplemental Benefits, .Even Republicans who support changing the regulations are opposed to putting it in the NDAA and they may support an effort to pass it and try to override the President's veto, which would be the first of his presidency. .To date, no government agency has released any complete estimate of the potential cost of illegal earnings to the Social Security Trust Fund. The best indication of the potential cost is contained in the Social Security Administration's "earnings suspense file" (ESF). .The benefit reduction would be caused by a feature of the Social Security benefit formula that is sensitive to economic recessions and high unemployment. The first step in calculating benefits is to adjust the individual's earnings using the average wage index (AWI) in order to convert the value of past earnings into today's dollars. The AWI is also used to adjust the earnings levels that determine the portion of their average monthly earnings that people are allowed to keep as their benefit. .In addition, twelve new cosponsors signed on to the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act (H.R. 242) this week, bringing the total up to twenty-nine. The new cosponsors are: Representatives Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Thomas Suozzi (NY-3), John Sarbanes (MD-3), Peter DeFazio (OR-4), Chellie Pingree (ME-1), Brad Sherman (CA-30), Peter Visclosky (IN-1), Earl Blumenauer (OR-3), Tulsi Gabbard (HI-2), Jared Huffman (CA-2), Dave Loebsack (IA-2), and Jamie Raskin (MD-8). .Social Security recipients can look forward to receiving an annual cost – of – living adjustment (COLA) of about 1.8 percent in 2018, according to an estimate released today by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). "A COLA of that amount would make it the highest since 2012 — but even at 1.8 percent, the raise is less than half of the 4 percent that COLAs averaged from 2000-2009," says TSCL's Social Security policy analyst, Mary Johnson. .Case 2— A man born in Mexico worked under his father's SSN for 9 years and then had these wages transferred when he acquired his own SSN before collecting retirement benefits. From 1999 to 2002 he collected approximately ,441 in retirement benefits, including benefits for dependents based on his account. Estimated benefits over 20 years — ,300. .Get quotes from 5 to 10 highly-rated insurance companies. Make sure you are getting apples–to–apples comparisons for the same type of annuity. .The additional coronavirus emergency legislation is likely to crowd out many other items that were once on the Congressional priority lists for the summer. As a result, the list of other "must pass" legislation is increasingly small, with priority being given to bills to fund the federal government and renew Pentagon programs.