News

  • Legislative Update Week Ending January 2 2015

    We cannot afford to overlook the financial risks associated both with the U.S.-Mexico totalization agreement and with any immigration plan that includes an amnesty provision at the expense of first securing our borders against additional illegal immigration. .It would: boost monthly Social Security benefits by 2 percent, improve the adequacy of the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, create a new minimum benefit set at 125 percent of the poverty line, and cut taxes for millions of beneficiaries. To cover the cost of these benefit enhancements and extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Funds for decades to come, it would also apply the payroll tax to income over 0,000 and gradually increase the payroll tax rate from 6.2 percent to 7.4 percent. .The Part B and Part D deductible period starts on January 1 of each year and ends on December 3If you were healthy during the year, but require doctor's services in November for the first time and the charge is 0, then you (or possibly your supplemental insurance plan) will have to pay that charge. If you don't see the doctor again until January, you start a whole new deductible period. If he charges you 0 again, then you or your insurer will pay the 0 again. … Continued

  • Social Security Medicare Questions November 2012

    Use the Contact Congress feature on the Home page of this site to obtain the names, addresses and other information on your Congressional delegation. You can even e-mail directly and sign our on-line petition in this full featured legislative action center. Click Guide to Contacting Congress to go to this section now. .How much are you spending on prescriptions? Be sure to take TSCL's 2019 Senior Survey and let us know. TSCL is working with Members of Congress to enact legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and supports bills that would cap or reduce out-of-pocket spending. .To put the problem of Medicare's cost growth into perspective, the following table illustrates what common food items would cost in 2014, if they had increased as rapidly as Medicare Part B premiums. To give a fuller picture, this table spans a 3year period, the length many Baby Boomers can expect to live in retirement. Medicare Part B premiums are twelve times higher today than 34 years ago in 1980. … Continued

The online survey, taken by 401 participants, was conducted in June and early July 2020. Here are some key findings: .In addition, should your husband improve and regain the ability to work, he would be allowed to earn ,580/month in 2021 before his benefits would be temporarily reduced due to Social Security's earnings restriction rules. Under disability rules, your husband could not earn more than ,310/month without losing eligibility for disability benefits altogether. Should your husband continue to improve, he could earn more by the year he attains full retirement age. .This week, one new cosponsor – Rep. Betty McCollum (MN-4) – signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 1391). The total is now up to sixty-two. If signed into law, H.R. 1391 would increase Social Security benefits by 2 percent, cut taxes for over 11 million seniors, increase the minimum benefit to 125 percent of the poverty line, and make cost-of-living adjustments more fair and accurate. It would also take measures to increase the solvency of the trust fund beyond the next seventy-five years, through the year 2100. .The CPI-E tends to grow more quickly than the CPI-W in most years, because it more accurately accounts for the percentage of income that retirees spend on healthcare and housing costs. Those two categories tend to increase several times faster than inflation, and tend to take a bigger share of retiree income. The CPI-E tends to give less weight to items like gasoline and consumer electronics which have fallen significantly in recent months and helped drag down the COLA for 2020. .To qualify for Medicare coverage, beneficiaries must be an inpatient for at least 3 days in a row, not counting the day of discharge. What you can do: If admitted to a hospital, it's highly important that you, or your designated caregiver, find out immediately whether you are being admitted to the hospital as an inpatient or an outpatient. Even if you are admitted as an inpatient, the hospital can sometimes switch you to observation (and outpatient) status, but the hospital is required to notify you while you are still a patient. Should this happen to you, ask your caregiver to take steps to have the decision reversed while you are still a patient. .CMS said in a press release that this change is to provide patients and their doctors more options and to lower costs by promoting more competition among hospitals and independent surgical centers. But while these surgeries will be removed from the inpatient-only list, the government did not approve any of them to be performed anywhere else. Patients will still have to get care at hospitals but, because these services have been reclassified, they will be billed under Medicare Part B as outpatient services, instead of Medicare Part A for hospital services. Medicare beneficiaries pay a bigger share of the costs under Part B, than under Part A for an inpatient stay, and those costs would also drive up Medicare Part B premiums in the future. .Our seniors worked hard all their lives and paid into the system – they've earned the right to true peace of mind. But the COLA formula in place right now just isn't providing that peace of mind. It's imbalanced and creating uncertainly for millions of Americans. .The COVID-19 recession of 2020 may potentially result in permanent benefit cuts for about 4 million people. Q & 038; March 2021 Can You Tell Me My Full Retirement Age? .This week, the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R.1205, S.915) gained one new cosponsor in Congressman Steve Stivers (OH-15), bringing the new cosponsor total up to 16In the Senate, the bill gained six new cosponsors in Senator Bill Nelson (FL), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA), Senator Mazie Hirono (HI), Senator Jack Reed (RI), and Senator Patrick Leahy (VT). If signed into law, the Social Security Fairness Act would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) – two Social Security provisions that unfairly reduce the earned benefits of millions of public employees each year.