News

  • Weekly Update For Week Ending October 17 2020

    On October 22, 2014, TSCL's Executive Director was interviewed on Fox Business about the 2015 COLA announcement. .On Thursday, TSCL delivered letters to several congressional offices – including the offices of lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee – requesting support for three tax-related changes that would strengthen the Social Security program: .Dental insurance works differently than health insurance. Standard Medicare, for example, has an 80/20 structure. Traditional Medicare pays about 80% of the Medicare approved cost, while the patient, or the patient's supplemental insurance, pays most, or all of the balance. On the other hand, dental insurance can follow a 100-80-50 structure. If you use in-network dentists, dental plans may pay 100% of routine preventive services, such as x-rays, cleanings and exams. The plan may pay only 80% for basic procedures such as fillings, root canals, and extractions. And major procedures such as crowns, implants and gum disease treatments may only be reimbursed at 50%, which can set you back with significant out-of-pocket costs. … Continued

  • How Is The Senior Citizens League Different From Aarp

    The battle between spending cuts versus revenue increases continues to be the largest point of contention between the two sides. Democrats are pushing a one-to-one ratio, contending that Congress has already outlined enough spending cuts in the debt limit increase law. If the Super Committee cannot come to a compromise by the deadline, mandated across-the-board budget cuts will occur. .This year's study found a 3 percentage point gain in the buying power of Social Security benefits from January 2019 to January 2020. That should indicate that most retirees may have seen at least some prices go down on certain items during that period. But this is deflation — which is a strong signal that there may be no COLA next year. This year's 1.6 percent COLA was already low to begin with. A recent deep plunge in oil prices have all but wiped out the prospect of a COLA. .Last Friday, lawmakers in the House and Senate adjourned for a week-long recess. They are expected to return to Capitol Hill on Monday, May 9th. In the meantime, many Members of Congress will be attending local events and holding town hall meetings, presenting constituents with an excellent opportunity to have their most pressing questions answered. … Continued

The last vaccine to quell a global viral scourge was the polio inoculation, which ended outbreaks that killed thousands and paralyzed tens of thousands each year in the United States. The March of Dimes Foundation covered the nominal drug cost for a free national vaccination program. .If signed into law, S. 960 would base Social Security cost-of-living adjustments on the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E) and gradually phase out the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. .Legislation to allow the importation of less-costly FDA-approved prescription drugs from Canada and other nations is still pending in Congress, and TSCL continues to work for enactment. Seniors like you and your wife who order prescription drugs by mail from Canada faced a particularly tough decision about Medicare Part D. Either you enroll in a Part D plan and quite likely pay more than you do now, or don't enroll and face the risk of paying a steep penalty if you change their mind and sign up after the May 15 deadline. .The Senate was back in Washington this week, holding hearings and confirming judicial and executive branch nominees. And while those are official duties of the Senate, no new legislation was passed. .Using statistical data from the Social Security Administration, TSCL estimates about 88 percent of Social Security beneficiaries have received benefits during the 2009 – 2015 period and have been impacted the hardest. "With 64 percent of older Americans depending on Social Security for over half of their income, going without a COLA is a loss of income that most beneficiaries simply can't be expected to bear," Cates says. Spiking medical costs are causing retirees to go into debt, and run through their savings," he adds. .It also included a second round of direct payments of ,200 per person, and up to ,000 per household. The bill also extended the 0 per week federal unemployment insurance benefit through January, which expired at the end of July. .We gave you the bad news about eating fried foods, which really is nothing very new. But there was some hopeful news last week that we want to pass along. .With the Medicare physician payment "doc fix" scheduled to cease at the end of February, lawmakers remain divided on where the funding will come from to extend the current level of payments to doctors. If the current "doc fix" expires, physicians' reimbursements will be reduced by a 27 percent rate. .To learn more about the WEP, download the Social Security Administration Publication No. 05-10045 here — https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf.