News

  • Q June 2016

    That is why a bipartisan coalition in the House recently proposed two new bills to prevent "price gouging" for "taxpayer funded COVID-19 drugs" to ensure affordable pricing. .The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for next year is likely to be the highest seen by retirees since 198Based on the most recent CPI data through August, I estimate that the COLA will increase Social Security benefits by 6%-6.1% in 202This would be the highest increase that I've forecast. Your Social Security Benefits Buying Less , editor .In a letter of support to Rep. Kevin Brady (TX-8) – the sponsor of H.R. 711 – TSCL's Chairman Ed Cates wrote: "According to a recent study completed by TSCL, Social Security beneficiaries have lost over 20 percent of their purchasing power since 2000. Those who are subject to the WEP have undoubtedly fallen even further behind. It is now more important than ever for Congress to address the inequities that have been created by the WEP, and TSCL believes the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act is a fair and responsible solution." … Continued

  • Are You Affected By High Out Of Pocket Costs For Covid 19

    For progress updates or for more information about these and other bills that would strengthen the Social Security program, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website or follow TSCL on Twitter. .Alexandria, VA (June 14, 2011) Cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) are "overpaying" Social Security recipients, and the government needs to switch to an "improved" method of measuring inflation that will give them a "small trim". That's what deficit negotiators from both sides of the aisle are saying in making the case for the government to switch to a more slowly-growing Consumer Price Index (CPI) for calculating the annual Social Security boost. .Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (AL) told reporters this week that a government shutdown later this month is a real possibility. He said: "This could make us all come together or it could drive us further apart. We don't know yet … I've been here on Christmas Eve." … Continued

Six Steps to Getting Six Month's Worth of Prescriptions for the Cost of Two. Get more mileage out of your drug coverage using these tried and true methods. They'll be lifesavers for you just like the thousands of seniors who have tried them. Editors, a full article with permission to reprint is available. .During his campaign for President, and several times since, he has promised that he would protect Social Security and Medicare. Yet a payroll tax cut would result in untold damage to the stability of both programs and bring them dangerously close to insolvency. .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! .The total revenues in the sample could pay the Social Security benefits of 897 retirees, with an average monthly benefit of ,400, for an entire year. Or, that revenue could be used to provide a modest boost to the COLA of 448,560 retirees in the first year, by tying the annual inflation adjustment to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). .Can We Trust Congress After Surprise Social Security Cuts? .Money for Life: Turn Your IRA and 401(k) Into a Lifetime Retirement Paycheck, Steve Vernon, September 2012. .Rep. DeFazio's No Loopholes in Social Security Taxes Act (H.R. 1029) also gained new cosponsors this week. Five Members of Congress signed on, bringing the total up to twenty-five. The new cosponsors are: Reps. Robert Scott (VA-3), Collin Peterson (MN-7), Grace Napolitano (CA-32), William Enyart (IL-12), and Barbara Lee (CA-13). The bill, if signed into law, would subject all income over 0,000 to the Social Security payroll tax. Currently, the payroll tax is capped at 3,700 and no income over that amount is taxed. Rep. DeFazio's bill would reportedly add at least fifty years to the solvency of the Trust Fund responsibly, without reducing benefits for seniors. .The FAIR Social Security Act (H.R. 1984), introduced by Representative Peter DeFazio (OR-4). This bill would make COLAs more accurate by basing them on the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). In a letter to his colleagues in Congress, Rep. DeFazio wrote: "Defying all common sense, COLAs are currently calculated based on the cost of goods that aren't purchased in large numbers by seniors … Social Security COLAs should be based on accuracy, not austerity." According to his office, adopting the CPI-E would amount to a monthly benefit increase at the age of 80 for the average retiree, and an increase of per month at the age of 90. .A Humana Medicare Advantage plan in Florida improperly collected nearly 0 million in payments in 2015 by overstating how sick some of its enrollees were. A new audit by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is seeking to get the money back. If successful, the audit penalty would be what has been described as "by far the largest" ever imposed on a Medicare Advantage company. But Humana has sharply disputed the OIG's findings, and has said that the recommendations "do not represent final determinations, and Humana will have the right to appeal."