News

  • The Senior Citizens League Weekly Update 12 13 19

    We are raising our 6-year-old grandson under permanent court ordered guardianship to age 1However, we are not allowed an additional Social Security benefit for this child unless we adopt him. Seems unfair since we have the same responsibility to support him. This will create a tremendous financial hardship, should my wife or I pass away and lose our benefit. We feel the rules should be changed to include benefits for permanent guardianships. -B.H. .In response to heightened concerns over antibiotic resistance, two dozen of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies have formally launched a billion for-profit venture fund to replenish the global medicine chest with novel treatments. .When he issued the orders President Trump gave the drug industry until Aug. 24 to find a suitable alternative to one of his drug pricing plans. He also announced that he would be meeting with drug company executives last Tuesday to begin discussions about a different plan. … Continued

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending February 21 2014

    TSCL Estimates 2019 Social Security COLA .Apply for Medicaid coverage while you wait. Check with a counselor at your local area Agency on Aging or local Medicaid department. Medicaid can take several months to start. .A major reason that the COLA is so low is the consumer price index that the government uses to calculate the increase. Under current law, the COLA is tied to the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). That index surveys the spending patterns of younger working adults and does not include the market basket of goods and services that is more typical of people age 62 and over. The CPI-W gives greater weight to goods and services that younger workers spend more on, like gasoline prices and electronics, which have dramatically dropped in price over the past two years. It gives less weight to housing and medical expenses even though those two categories have experienced bigger price jumps over the past two years, and are the two biggest spending categories for older consumers. … Continued

Earlier this year, a Congressional report referred to the AARP as a "massive for-profit enterprise" whose financial structure "conflicts with its legal requirements to ‘primarily operate to promote the common good and social welfare of a community of people.'" ."In the event that you have the choice to get vaccinated, I'd encourage you to take the vaccine that you're given," John Brooks, the chief medical officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Covid-19 response, said at a briefing Friday." .Four Key Bills Gain Support .Two cosponsors – Rep. Doris Matsui (CA-5) and Sen. Dean Heller (NV) – signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 1332, S. 2010) this week, bringing the totals up to 166 in the House and 13 in the Senate. .This week, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) saw three critical bills – the Credit for Caring Act, the Social Security Fairness Act, and the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act – gain new cosponsors on Capitol Hill. .Catastrophic coverage stage (if you spend a total of more than ,100 counting all your prescriptions): .15 .Missing Medicare Part B Enrollment Deadline Triggers Penalties .For nearly 30 million Americans, access to a trauma center is over an hour's drive. It's no exaggeration to say the fate of health care programs for rural America could mean life or death for the communities that feed, fuel, and clothe the rest of the country. .In September, federal agents announced the arrests of 35 people linked to a huge genetic testing scam. Individuals charged are accused of billing Medicare for more than .1 billion worth of phony genetic tests. The crackdown included telemedicine companies, doctors, and labs which worked in an elaborate scheme that preyed on people's fears of having genetic markers for cancer.