News

  • Congress Averts 19 Social Security Disability Benefit Cut

    A number of the Commission's proposals would hit seniors particularly hard. Here are a few highlights: .A balanced budget amendment recently under consideration in Congress would have a disproportionate impact on Social Security and Medicare. These programs are responsible for about 40 percent federal spending in 201House Speaker Paul Ryan recently said he hopes to overhaul entitlement spending before he leaves Congress at the end of his term. .Other Goods and Services: (tobacco and smoking products, haircuts and other personal services, funeral expenses). … Continued

  • Growth In Seniors Filing For Bankruptcy Outpaces Younger Americans Feed

    To qualify for special enrollment in a Marketplace plan, your husband will need to select a plan within 60 days after losing his job-based coverage. If you need coverage in the time between losing job-based coverage and beginning coverage through a Marketplace plan, your husband may want to continue COBRA coverage from his former employer's plan. He should learn more about his special enrollment period, and coverage at www.HealthCare.gov or by calling 1-800-318-2596. .TSCL was pleased to see support grow for H.R. 1795 and H.R. 2305 this week, and we look forward to helping build additional support for them in the coming months. ."Social Security benefits simply are not adequate when people with a Social Security benefit of even as much as ,288 per month are at risk of having their entire COLA used to cover rising Part B premiums," says Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. "That is what happened in 2018, and that left nothing to cover all other rising household costs," Johnson explains. … Continued

While Congress continues to discuss similar changes to the Social Security benefit formula today, Notch Reform remains a legislative priority for TSCL. TSCL estimates that 2.7 million Notch babies and their spouses or widows would benefit from passage of The Notch Fairness Act. The legislation would provide Notch Babies, born 1917 through 1926, ,000 payable in four annual installments, or an improved monthly benefit. Representative Mike McIntyre (NC-7) introduced the legislation in the House where it has 17 cosponsors, and Senator David Vitter (LA) has introduced a corresponding bill in the Senate. TSCL continues to work for passage. .Gathering with unvaccinated people from more than one other household .Are there any plans without an annual maximum? These plans fall into two main types, dental health maintenance organizations (DHMO), and discount dental plans. A DHMO will require you to use in network dentists, and to get referrals from your dentist when you need a specialist. You pay nothing extra when you receive preventive services that are covered by your plan premium. There are also discount dental plans that negotiate discounted rates with a network of dentists. Patients get discounts at dentist's office, but pay their dentists directly at the time of service. There is no waiting period for this type of plan. .The definition of disability under Social Security is different from other programs. Social Security only pays benefits for total disability, and none are paid for partial or a short-term disability. To determine if your husband is disabled, the Social Security Administration will examine the following: ."AbbVie is one of 33 member companies of the industry's top lobbying group, PhRMA, which raised nearly 0 million from membership dues in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available. But AbbVie's political action committee is one of just two pharmaceutical company PACs to donate the maximum ,000 to PhRMA's federal PAC since 2013, a potential indicator that AbbVie was highly motivated to influence legislation," according to a report on Salon.com. .Rep. Phil Roe (TN), who served as a witness at the Energy and Commerce hearing, introduced legislation in January to repeal the IPAB. The bill currently has bipartisan support and more than 160 cosponsors. While some, including President Obama and his Fiscal Commission, have proposed strengthening the authority of the IPAB, most at this week's hearings expressed their support for legislation that would eliminate it. .Budget Cuts Taking Toll on Congressional Staffs .Because COVID-19 has never been seen in humans before, there are currently no vaccines to prevent COVID-19 approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA recently approved the first treatment for COVID-19, the antiviral drug remdesivir. .We could, alternatively, allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices — a proposal that has been raised by politicians and beaten back by industry again and again. We would then need to restrict markup for a COVID-19 vaccine for the private market. Otherwise, we would get the kinds of results emerging from the COVID testing industry, where Medicare pays 0 for the test but some labs charge insurers over ,000.