News

  • Ask The Advisor October 2012

    Lawmakers Discuss Drug Costs with President Trump .Terry: The anchor takes on too much weight, swaying the decision in a particular direction. It can lead us to ignore or never even consider other options. In buying a used car, the sales price may be much higher than the car is worth. Yet we start there in haggling over what we'll pay, possibly paying only somewhat less than the price, and thinking we got a good deal when we did not. In the case of the charitable donation, we may feel guilty the more we consider giving less than the anchor ("suggested") amount. .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. … Continued

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending October 28 2011

    In the meantime, many Members of Congress will be attending local events and hosting town hall meetings in their home states and districts. The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) encourages its members and supporters to attend these events and to ask questions about their Social Security and Medicare benefits, such as the following … .In addition, one new cosponsor – Rep. John Duncan, Jr. (TN-2) – signed on to the Preventing and Reducing Improper Medicare and Medicaid Expenditures (PRIME) Act (H.R. 2305). The total is now up to sixty-three. If signed into law, the PRIME Act would take a number of steps to comprehensively prevent fraud, waste, and abuse within the two programs – a problem that TSCL believes must be addressed in order to ensure that scarce program dollars are being spent properly. .In addition, the bill would help finance Part D benefits. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will save Medicare billion over a decade and save beneficiaries billion in out-of-pocket costs over the same period. … Continued

Congressional Recess Comes to a Close .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). .On Thursday, lawmakers in the House began considering legislation (H.R. 1190) to repeal the IPAB, the unelected 15-member board that was created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to manage Medicare's growth. The House Ways and Means Committee advanced the bill with a vote of 31-8 two weeks ago, and earlier this week it was approved by the House Rules Committee. .Payments to the plans were cut 6 billion over 10 years under 2010 healthcare reform legislation. So far the program has remained relatively stable and continues to grow in enrollment. .Last year, I introduced bipartisan legislation to halt this obscure tax increase on seniors. Since then, we've worked hard to build broad support inside of Congress and out. The bill has the endorsement of a list of taxpayer and seniors advocacy groups and passed the U.S. House of Representatives on a bipartisan vote on September 13, 2016. .Medicaid is the major source of coverage for an estimated 6 million seniors who need long-term care. Last year, long-term care services required one-third of the federal Medicaid budget, more than 0 billion. States, which share the program's cost, spent tens of billions to match that amount. .The government negotiates prescription drug prices for veterans and Medicaid beneficiaries, but it is barred from negotiating lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. As a result, seniors enrolled in Part D often pay much higher prices than others for their prescription drugs. What are you doing to correct this unfair policy? .Are you the parent or spouse of someone with special needs? Permanent life insurance can make sure a child or spouse will have financial support when you are gone. .Only five weeks remain before the conference committee's December 13th deadline, and House and Senate appropriators are urging the conferees to settle on a top-line spending number even earlier – before the Thanksgiving recess begins on November 22nd. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (MD), Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said this week: "We believe that if an agreement on a discretionary spending number can be reached early, it will allow for more thoughtful and responsible spending decisions."