News

  • Medicare Costs Too High Three Medicare Proposals That Would Make You Pay Even More Feed

    During the years in which inflation as measured by the CPI-W has been the highest, the difference between it and the chained CPI has been greatest. In 2008, for example, when the CPI-W paid a COLA of 5.8% the following year, the chained CPI would have only paid 5.2%, a difference of 0.6 of a percentage point. "And if the government were to use the initial chained CPI data to calculate COLAs for 2012, seniors would get just 2.7% instead of 3.6%, a difference of 0.9 of a percentage point," Hyland says. .Protection of the Social Security Trust Fund – Ensuring that the program's assets are locked out of the general budget. .Both Social Security and Medicare have come under intense scrutiny for benefit cuts in recent years of deficit reduction negotiations. Immigration proponents say that immigration reform would boost the payroll taxes flowing to both programs and prolong program solvency. Critics, including TSCL, say that giving hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants new access to Social Security would boost long-term costs far more than the 2-year estimated gain in solvency that the Social Security program would receive. Under current law the government continues to calculate entitlement and the amount of the initial benefit based on all earnings, even for jobs worked under invalid or even fraudulent Social Security numbers prior to gaining legal work authorization. … Continued

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending July 26 2013

    This policy benefits immigrants who have broken U.S. immigration and employment laws and have worked using a stolen or fraudulent Social Security number. In addition, this policy flaw raises questions as to whether Social Security eligibility acts as an incentive for more illegal immigration in the future. .TSCL has filed three lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act requesting copies of the agreement and other information and has placed ads in The Washington Times in opposition to the proposed agreement. We will continue to closely monitor the totalization matter. .If your prescription drug costs are outgrowing your ability to pay for your medicine, look into Medicare's "Extra Help" program. The program helps pay for some, or most, of the costs of Medicare prescription drug coverage, depending on income. In addition, there's no doughnut hole coverage gap that leaves you footing the bill for a larger share of the co-insurance, there's no late enrollment penalty, and you have the chance to switch plans at any time. According to the 2018 Medicare & You Handbook, drug costs in 2018 for people who qualify will be no more than .35 for generics and .35 for brand-name drugs. … Continued

Social Security Subcommittee Discusses Disability Fraud .First, one new cosponsor – Representative Conor Lamb (PA-18) – signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 1902), bringing the total up to 17If adopted, H.R. 1902 would strengthen Social Security benefits by improving the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), increasing monthly benefits by 2 percent, creating a new Special Minimum Benefit equal to 125 percent of the poverty line, and providing a tax cut to millions of Social Security beneficiaries. To cover the cost of these changes and to extend the solvency of the program through the year 2100, it would apply the payroll tax to annual income over 0,000 and gradually increase the payroll tax rate by 0.25 percent. .President was expanding home and community-based care for the elderly and disabled and improving conditions for the poorly paid workers who give that care. .The TSCL legislative team continues to work diligently to promote the issues affecting our members. While much of this week's success was focused on current bills, our team also strives to stay on top of forth-coming legislation yet to be formally introduced. The work of our committed legislative team enables TSCL to keep capable eyes and ears on Congress' inner-workings to better represent the concerns of our valued members. .This week, The Senior Citizens League was pleased to see support grow for three bipartisan bills that would improve the Medicare program and reduce prescription drug prices. .For help estimating how much your benefits should be, the Social Security website has an earnings test calculator. For more information about the earnings limits, get "How Work Affects Your Benefits" Social Security Publication No. 05-10069. .Congress should strengthen Social Security benefits by boosting benefits about 2 percent (about on average) and tie the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) which, in most years, would yield a modestly higher COLA. — 83 percent support, 12 percent not sure, and 5 percent opposed. .Last week, the two leaders of the Republicans and Democrats in the Senate finally were able to reach an agreement on organizing the Senate for the next two years. An agreement was needed because each party has 50 Senators. Because of that, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is President of the Senate as provided for in the Constitution, will break any tie votes that may occur. That includes the vote to organize the Senate. .I heard that Medicare would be mailing new cards. When can I expect to get mine?