News

  • 2015 F Q Executive Action Immigration Social Security Medicare

    Consequently, Social Security recipients with the lowest benefits may not see much of an increase at all after Medicare Part B premiums are deducted. Those with benefits of about 0 or less are at risk of seeing the Part B premiums consume their entire COLA, leaving nothing extra left over to deal with other rising costs. .The act also recalculates COLAs so future changes would be based on the price of goods and services seniors actually buy, like medications, by using a formula known as Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). Currently, the COLA is based on CPI-W, which evaluates the entire economy, including infant and toddler apparel, nursery care, toys and school fees. .This is the website of The Senior Citizens League ("TSCL"). … Continued

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending January 22 2012

    At the hearing, Burwell made two key points of interest to TSCL. First, she commented that she fully supports President Obama's proposal to increase means testing within Medicare. TSCL opposes the President's plan since we fear that it could have unintended consequences that would ultimately drive up costs for many of the oldest and poorest seniors. Second, Burwell committed to work with Congress to repeal and replace the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, which has brought instability to the Medicare program for more than a decade. TSCL supports efforts to find a permanent solution, since repealing the SGR will result in higher quality medical care for seniors. .Two bills that would provide for coverage of dental services under the Medicare program were introduced in Congress last week. H.R.502, authored by Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan (D-Calif.) has been introduced in the House of Representatives, while S.97, authored by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has been introduced in the Senate. .Clauses requiring mandatory arbitration have become exceedingly common in many types of contracts, but they can have serious implications for unsuspecting consumers. By signing such agreements, consumers give up their Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury or their right to bring civil suit in court against the company no matter what the grievance. This can even include sexual abuse, medication errors, and negligence. … Continued

The new benefit formula under the 1977 law changes used "wage indexing" to calculate the initial retirement benefit. The economic assumptions used by Congress and the Social Security Administration assumed that wages would grow more quickly than price inflation. Generally, this is the way the economy tends to perform under normal circumstances. In reality, however, the reverse happened. .Most working Americans contribute 6.2 percent of every paycheck to Social Security, but due to the payroll tax cap, people earning more than 7,200 contribute nothing over that amount. Do you support legislation like the newly-introduced Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 1902), which would extend the solvency of the program by requiring millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share? .Here's a closer look at the Medicare proposals: .Carefully protect personal information, including your full name, address, bank account, and Social Security numbers. Never give that information out to unsolicited callers. .Social Security recipients who have contacted The Senior Citizens League overwhelmingly feel that a higher COLA would be long overdue. They say that the COLA doesn't come close to keeping up with their actual cost increases. When prices rise rapidly at the same time that retirees are receiving a very low COLA, as is the case in 2021, this shortfall can produce long-term impacts on retirement income, and even health, when retired households without adequate retirement savings run short of cash before the month is over. "In email after email, we are hearing that people are cutting their spending on prescriptions and groceries because that's the last things they have left to cut," says Johnson. The Senior Citizens League works to strengthen Social Security benefits and the COLA. .The President's final memo waives all interest on student loans held by the federal government through the end of 2020 and allows people to delay payments until Dec. 3This will help those who are repaying student loans. ."Maybe the economic value of the COVID vaccine is a trillion — and even if the expense to the company was a billion, that's 1,000 times return on investment," said Schulman. "No economic theory would support that." .Shoring up the Medicare Part A Trust Fund will be more difficult. Simply cutting payments to hospitals would not be in the best interests of patients or hospitals, because many medical centers are already faltering financially. .The article continued, "The NBER study zeros in on how increases in prescription drug costs among Medicare recipients affect patient choices and comes to a stark finding: ‘Patient cost-sharing introduces large and deadly distortions into the cost-benefit calculus,' the report said."