News

  • Benefit Bulletin March 2014

    As a member of Congress, I have sought to protect Social Security and have advocated for seniors. From writing to President Obama urging him to exclude chained Consumer Price Index (CPI) from his 2015 budget to drafting legislation to help seniors save on tax deductions for medical expenses — I have fought to ensure Congress does not try to balance the budget on the backs of seniors. .A Word of Warning .If signed into law, H.R. 1811 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. … Continued

  • Social Security Medicare Questions October 2013

    Few Employers Withholding Payroll Taxes .However, if you live in a group setting (like a correctional or detention facility or group home) and are around someone who has COVID-19, you should still stay away from others for 14 days and get tested, even if you do not have symptoms. .Beyond funding the government and raising the debt ceiling, TSCL was pleased that the Bipartisan Budget Act included the following three improvements to the Medicare program: … Continued

Lawmakers Adjourn for Recess .The Part A deductible, however, is charged "per spell of illness" and it's feasible that you could have to pay it more than one time in a year should you require multiple hospitalizations the same year. .To strengthen Social Security and Medicare, 84% of respondents strongly agreed that Congress should focus on getting Americans back to work. Jobs and the payroll taxes paid by people during their working years finance the benefits received by today's Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries. While jobs were the top deficit fix, only 11% agree with cutting the Social Security payroll tax as a means to generate employment. Congressional leadership and the President are battling over spending cuts and higher taxes that will be needed to avoid hitting a "fiscal cliff" by the end of this year. .According to the committee report, a (now retired) Social Security judge, David B. Daugherty, schemed with a disability attorney Eric C. Conn, improperly awarding benefits to "virtually all" of Conn's 1,823 clients. The decisions were based on recommendations by an unusually loyal group of doctors who "often examined Conn's clients right in his law offices" according to a CBS News "60 Minutes" program. .Mandatory programs are those, like Medicare, that are automatically funded every year without passage of annual legislation to pay for them. Congress can, however, waive the PAYGO rules to avoid the payment cuts. .PLEASE be careful – and remember, there is NO vaccine, cure, or proven treatment for the coronavirus at this time. Do not waste your money on some "medicine" that supposedly will treat or prevent you from getting sick. .TSCL's research has consistently found that Medicare Part B premiums rank as one of the fastest growing senior costs. Yet Medicare premium costs are not included in the measure currently used to determine the annual COLA — one major reason why COLAs do such a poor job of keeping up with rising healthcare costs. TSCL continues to lobby for a more fair and accurate COLA and supports legislation that would use a seniors' index — like the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) — to determine the annual boost. .Sources: "Relief From Deportation: Demographic Profile Of The DREAMers Potentially Eligible Under The Deferred Action Policy," Migration Policy Institute, August 2012. .Defense Department Shutting Military Families and Retirees out of Treatment Facilities