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  • 89 Older Americans Oppose Executive Action Immigration

    Under 1977 Projections Under Actual Conditions .Although Congress has often enacted "clean bill" debt limit increases, and may do so again, lawmakers have also paid for increases with other types of changes, including changes to Social Security and Medicare. In a 2015 debt limit deal, Congress ended a benefit claiming option that was one of the few ways married couples could maximize their benefits. The change affected some people who were already 62 and entitled to benefits. It cost those affected, thousands in Social Security income that they were depending on getting. .The Senior Citizens League supports bipartisan legislation that would require Medicare to negotiate lower prices for Medicare Part D, would allow safe importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries where the same drugs are often sold for much less, and would ban "pay for delay" deals between drug manufacturers that keep cheaper generics off the market. To learn what you can do to help fight high drug costs, visit . … Continued

  • Benefit Bulletin June 2016

    Do COLAs overpay seniors? Ask TSCL Chairman, Larry Hyland. "The idea is hogwash," he says. "There's simply no evidence that the CPI has overpaid the people who depend on those COLAs to protect the buying power of their benefits. The Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) that surveys the market basket more typical of the majority of Social Security recipients, has shown a significantly greater rise over the CPI used to calculate COLAs through 201The CPI-E would provide a more accurate, and adequate COLA, one more in line with the costs experienced by seniors," Hyland says. .On the other hand, Bloomberg News has reported that, "The White House is backing away from a plan to send 0 prescription drug discount cards to American seniors before Election Day after widespread criticism the effort could violate election laws. .Notch Babies receive lower benefits than other seniors near to them in age with similar earnings histories. For example, in 2012, the average benefit of 95-year old Notch Babies was ,31Yet the average benefit of 96-year old seniors was ,390, a monthly difference of Under normal circumstances the benefits of retirees who are younger are usually slightly higher, because wages used to determine benefits tend to increase over time. This is not the case with people born during the Notch period. … Continued

Just years before they were set to retire, these individuals learned that they would have significantly lower benefits than originally anticipated. The issue was created by the amendments to the Social Security Act that were signed into law in 1977, and it has compounded over time. .The findings show a dramatic drop in inflation from January of 2014 to January of 2015 — due almost entirely to the drop in oil prices. The deflationary trend, while making the price of petroleum products more affordable in the short term, could spell trouble ahead next year for retired and disabled beneficiaries who depend on Social Security for most of their income. The last time the drop in inflation was this steep was in 2009 — when no cost of living adjustment (COLA) was payable the following year. In fact, the drop in inflation is now so deep that TSCL's Social Security policy analyst and Advisor editor, Mary Johnson, forecasts that the COLA for 2016 will be around zero. Going without any COLA is like going without interest on savings and results in a lower Social Security income over time, due to the loss of compounding. .MedPAC Delivers Report, Testimony to Congress .In recent years, inflation and COLAs have been virtually flat, averaging just 1.1% per year since 2010 — with no COLA at all in 2016 and just a 0.3% COLA in 201Slow growth in Social Security benefits, particularly when it continues over a period as long as 8 years, has a very significant impact on the overall amount of lifetime income that retirees can expect from Social Security. When retiree costs climb while benefits remain flat, people wind up having to dig more deeply into retirement savings (if they have any), spending more quickly than anticipated. Many people without other pensions or savings are forced into debt. About one in four low-income older Americans is dependent on programs that provide assistance with essentials like food and healthcare costs. .Over the past 25 years, Congress has periodically debated plans to fix Social Security's financing, that rely heavily on benefit cuts. But for the first time in 2019 and 2020, Congress is considering a plan to strengthen Social Security and its benefits while making the program solvent by beefing up the payroll tax revenues flowing into the program. .Lawmakers Approve Temporary Spending Bill .For more than three decades the government has quietly made numerous changes to how the cost of living is defined and measured — asserting that the changes make the CPI more accurate. The general public for the most part is unaware of the changes, and more importantly the financial impact on benefits has never been publically disclosed. .Manufacturers have traditionally claimed that only the lure of windfall profits would encourage them to take the necessary risks, since drug development is expensive and there's no way of knowing whether they're putting their money on a horse that will finish first, or scratch. .But one thing is clear: Congress and the President, whoever his is, will have massive issues to deal with, not the least of which will be the future solvency of Social Security and Medicare. Our political leaders have to stop avoiding dealing with these tough issues. They can't continue to "kick the can down the road."