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    I applied for Social Security benefits in March 2007 when I was 62 years old. After a month I found a job. On September of 2007, I called Social Security to stop payment of my benefits because I was earning over the limits. I was told that the following year it would be automatically processed. From then on every year I got a few months payment. Now Social Security has informed me that I received too much and my overpayment is ,704. .Every year since the late 1990's, Congress has ‘balanced' the budget by declaring a pay cut to doctors' Medicare services. Every year, after the budget for the next year is revealed, this cut is rescinded. .If adopted, it would provide beneficiaries with a 2 percent benefit boost, base cost-of-living adjustments on the more accurate Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, create a new minimum benefit set at 125 percent of the poverty line, and eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits for millions of seniors. It would also extend the solvency of the program through the year 2100 without cutting benefits for current or future retirees. … Continued

  • Soaring Drug Costs Have More Of Us Demanding To Know Why

    For more than three decades the government has quietly made numerous changes to how the cost of living is defined and measured — asserting that the changes make the CPI more accurate. The general public for the most part is unaware of the changes, and more importantly the financial impact on benefits has never been publically disclosed. .That's sensible, practical – and fair. It asks those who have benefited most from wealth inequality to pay their proper share of payroll taxes. .More than 50% of older households surveyed by the National Institute on Aging say that they have at least one adult child living within 10 miles. But retirement housing and care plans can go awry when an adult child needs to relocate — most often because of a job. … Continued

Here are four ways to help you get more from your homeowners coverage: .In addition to drug manufacturers, major business groups and 32 conservative organizations to his actions and have been lobbying The President to change his mind. .The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the agency within the Department of Labor that gathers information about prices that consumers pay in order to determine the inflation rate, and therefore the COLA for next year, has let it be known that because of the virus they are going to have to estimate some of the costs of goods and services instead of finding out what they actually are. .I turn 66 in August of next year, and plan to start Social Security retirement benefits. How much may I earn in 2021 without reducing my benefits? .At Thursday's hearing, Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (TX-3) and Ranking Member John Larson (CT-3) both spoke about how their Social Security reform bills would improve the program's financing. Chairman Johnson's bill – the Social Security Reform Act – would do so primarily through benefit cuts, while Ranking Member Larson's bill – the Social Security 2100 Act – would do so primarily through revenue increases. Mr. Goss confirmed that both bills – using two very different approaches – would return the program to 75-year solvency if adopted. .One-out-of-three adults covered by Medicare is not getting regular routine dental care, according to TSCL's 2019 Senior Survey. We estimate that translates to roughly 20 million older Americans who are going without bi-annual cleanings, X-rays, and dental exams. Medicare does not cover routine dental health services, and that often comes as a shock to new beneficiaries. More than half of survey participants say they do not have any dental insurance coverage. .The study says the program would have saved 7 million that year if generics had been substituted for all the brand-name medicines requested by prescribers. Additionally, if Medicare patients had sought generics instead of brand-name drugs, Medicare Part D would have saved another 3 million. .The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed charges against more than half a dozen people accused of pushing silver products and other fake treatments for Covid-1The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has gotten the marketer of a Vitamin C supplement to stop claiming it can treat the virus. And the FTC and Food and Drug Administration have been sending dozens of joint warning letters to companies for touting unapproved treatments or preventatives. ."Reducing the cost of prescription drugs is essential for both Medicare beneficiaries and Medicare's finances," says Mary Johnson, a Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The average monthly Social Security retiree benefit is just ,552, while spending on prescription drugs is the fastest growing cost that most retirees face in retirement," she says. Over time, drug costs take a growing portion of Social Security income, because prices are rising several times faster than annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs).