News

  • Are We Experiencing The Return Of Inflation

    Roughly 27% of older single women are at high risk of living in poverty, because they have little other income to augment their Social Security benefits. Single women have it worse in retirement than married couples and men, and are more likely to become impoverished as they age. Most women have lower benefits than men. Women tend to work in lower-paying jobs, get paid less than men, and take time out of the workforce to take care of children and older family members. That can leave zero earnings gaps, or only partial years of earnings for the time out of the work force. .In a letter of endorsement, Art Cooper – Chairman of The Senior Citizens League's Board of Trustees – wrote: "TSCL salutes you for introducing legislation that would make COLAs more accurate, reduce senior poverty by boosting monthly benefits, cut taxes for millions of beneficiaries, and ask wealthier Americans to contribute to the program more fairly. Together, these changes would strengthen Social Security benefits while extending the solvency of the trust funds for decades to come." .Congress should allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices by tying U.S. prices to prices paid in other industrialized countries like Canada, Great Britain and Japan where prices are lower. — 85 percent support, 13 percent not sure, and only 2 percent opposed. … Continued

  • Tscl Supports Special Extension Of Open Enrollment Period

    The Senior Citizens League strongly believes allowing the HHS Secretary to negotiate with the drug companies is one important way to reduce the costs of drugs for seniors. We will be continuing our efforts to get Congress to pass legislation that would make this possible. .This study illustrates why legislation is needed to provide a more fair and adequate COLA. To put it in perspective, for every 0 worth of groceries a retiree could afford in 2000, they can only buy worth today. To help protect the buying power of benefits, TSCL supports legislation that would provide a modest boost in benefits and base COLAs on the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) or guarantee that the COLA would be a minimum of 3 percent. To learn more, visit . .Eliminating income taxes on Social Security benefits. Millions of middle-income Social Security recipients currently pay income taxes on a portion of their Social Security benefits. According to a recent survey of TSCL's members, 56 percent of older households pay taxes on their benefits, and that number is projected to rise in the coming years. Eliminating this income tax would provide millions of middle-income beneficiaries with much-needed tax relief. … Continued

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents pharmacy benefit managers that run the Medicare prescription drug plans targeted by the rebate rule, said at the time that it was exploring litigation. .Sources: "Draft MedPAC Language Calls For Medicare Benefit Redesign," John Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, March 8, 201Medigap Reform: Setting The Context, Kaiser Family Foundation, September 2011. .A draft of the order is circulating inside the government and was obtained by Bloomberg News. "It is critical that we reduce our dependence on foreign manufacturers for essential medicines, medical countermeasures" to "ensure sufficient and reliable long-term domestic manufacturing" that prevents shortages and supplies to "mobilize our nation's public health industrial base" when needed, says the nine-page draft. .The Social Security Disability Trust Fund (SSDI) is rapidly closing in on becoming the first of the two Social Security Trust Funds to become fully insolvent. The disability trust fund, which is separate from the one that pays retirement and survivors benefits, is due to have funding problems by 2016. .TSCL's members and supporters are sending in thousands of petition signatures to fight the cuts that threaten senior benefits. Senior voter outcry, especially in an election year, is a highly effective means to make lawmakers wary of making major changes. .The Senate was not in session and is scheduled to return on January 25th. .Currently, when hold harmless is triggered on a nationwide scale there is no provision of law to finance the unpaid portion of Medicare Part B premium increases. Instead, the entire burden of Part B costs is spread over a much smaller number of individuals, which is the 30 percent of Medicare Part B enrollees who are not protected by the hold harmless provision. This has led to significant spikes in Medicare Part B premiums during the hold harmless years, and in 2018 when a COLA finally became payable, to steep jumps in premiums for those whose Medicare Part B premiums were held lower in 2016 and 2017. .A husband's death can mean enormous financial hardship for women. Under current law it generally means a big drop in Social Security income, going from two Social Security payments each month to just one. When the husband passes away, the widow gets a benefit that's 100% the amount the deceased spouse was entitled to, if higher than her own retirement benefit. For example, if the couple received a combined benefit of ,400 per month, and the husband's benefit is ,600, then the widow would just get the ,600 and lose her own 0 per month in benefits. .Taxpayers who are employed and receive Social Security, or similar retirement benefits.