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  • Its Tax Season That Means More Scams Aimed At Older Taxpayers

    Now that Congress has passed President Biden's Covid-19 relief bill it must turn its attention immediately to passing legislation to delay billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare. .Impose new Medicare deductibles and impose new coverage restrictions on Medigap plans: Impose a new 0 deductible for both Medicare Part A and Part B that Medigap plans would be restricted from covering. Would also limit the co-insurance or co-pays that Medigap plans could cover to 50 percent of the next ,000 in Medicare cost-sharing. Currently plans pay most, or all, of the Medicare cost sharing. .For more information about town hall meetings near you in the days ahead, call the local offices of your Members of Congress. For contact information, click HERE. … Continued

  • Retirement Toolkit

    (Washington, DC) – A budget proposal to switch to an alternate consumer price index, for calculating the annual Social Security cost – of - living - adjustment (COLA) is a bad deal for older and disabled Americans, says The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The proposed "chained" consumer price index (CPI) would grow even more slowly than the conventional one that is currently used to determine the annual COLA. .But lower COLAs and changes that would increase seniors' Medicare costs still remain key targets of plans to lower federal spending. Late last year, the budget conference committee responsible for heading off another government shutdown heard deficit reduction options from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Among those having the biggest impact on reducing government spending are proposals to increase deductibles and co-insurance for Medicare — cutting federal spending about 4 billion. In addition, moving to using the more slowly-growing chained CPI to determine COLAs would cut government spending by an estimated 8.5 billion on Social Security and other federal benefit programs, like military retirement, through 2023. .TSCL agrees with Congressman Duncan, and we enthusiastically support the CPI for Seniors Act. In a letter of endorsement, Art Cooper – Chairman of TSCL's Board of Trustees – wrote: "Unfortunately, years of record-low COLAs like this one – including multiple years of zero COLAs – will have a devastating impact on the long-term adequacy of Social Security benefits for more than 59 million beneficiaries … Your bill would go a long way in ensuring the retirement security older Americans have earned and deserve, and we look forward to informing our members and supporters about your efforts on Capitol Hill." … Continued

The audit is part of long-delayed plans to recover money that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says it overpaid to plans that exaggerated the severity of illnesses of patients treated. The problem is one that the federal government has struggled with, unsuccessfully, for more than a decade. According to one estimate that appeared in Health Affairs, CMS will overpay Medicare Advantage plans by 0 billion over the next decade if the current "coding intensity adjustment" system remains in place. .In addition, when lawmakers return to Capitol Hill on Monday to begin the lame-duck session, TSCL will keep a close eye on the evolving budget negotiations. Lawmakers have until December 9th to negotiate legislation to keep the federal government operating. Should they fail to miss the looming deadline, the federal government will shut down like it did back in 2013, and Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries could see negative impacts. For progress updates from Capitol Hill, visit the Legislative News section of our website, or follow TSCL on Twitter. .Changes are looming for Medicare and Social Security. Make your opinion count. Visit TSCL online at and take our monthly poll. We'll announce the results in upcoming issues of this newsletter. .Congress did not receive any automatic pay adjustment this year. With so many Americans (including seniors) suffering from long-term financial set backs, and so many workers out of jobs, lawmakers wisely opted to forego a raise. They last received a pay raise in January 200At the time their salary was increased 2.8% to 4,000 from 9,300. While the recession was taking a bite out of Americans' income, the pay of Members of Congress grew by ,800 from the time the recession began at the end of December 2007 through 2009, according to the Congressional Research Service. Over the decade 2000 through 2009, Congress gave themselves a total of 9 pay hikes, raising their salaries a total of ,300 from 6,700 in 1999 to the 4,000 that they receive in 201Legislation passed in 1989 established the current formula used to automatically adjust the Congressional pay increase that they refer to as a "cost-of-living adjustment" (COLA). .The Health and Human Services Department finalized the policy through an interim final rule in November, meaning the agency skipped the comment period. Lowering drug costs for patients is the end goal of the policy, which the government argues justified the speedy implementation. .More than ever before, it is critical that seniors make their voices heard on Capitol Hill. In the past two years, countless proposals to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits have been backed by deficit hawks in Congress. Recent plans have called for lower cost-of-living adjustments, increased Medicare means testing, a higher retirement age, and even the phasing out of Medicare altogether. The stakes are high for seniors, and with a critical election just months away, every voice counts. The stacks of petitions that our members signed were delivered along with a personalized letter addressed to each Member of Congress. The letters expressed appreciation to those who have already signed on as supporters of the key issues. To those who have not, however, they conveyed a powerful and urgent message and served as a call to action. .TSCL is hopeful that lawmakers will successfully repeal and replace the SGR by the end of this year since doing so would bring increased stability to the Medicare program for both doctors and patients. However, we are opposed to offsets that would reduce Medicare benefits or require seniors to pay more for their health care, and we firmly believe that beneficiaries should not be penalized for the poor policy-making decisions that were made by Congress more than a decade ago. .Mismatched earnings reports remain in the ESF until SSA obtains evidence to link the unidentified earnings to a valid SSN — a process termed "earnings reinstatement."(14) When SSA encounters reports that don't match its records, SSA goes through an involved, and time-consuming attempt to make a match. Reinstatements can occur any time, even years later. .2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, like the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or