News

  • Cola Fairness Feed

    Two Provisions That Can Reduce Or Eliminate Social Security Benefits .Back in April the Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their reports with projections of the financial outlook of the programs. Those annual reports give the official government projections for the programs. It is important to note that the projections were made prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and therefore did not include the effects the pandemic has had on the economy and ultimately on the two programs. .As debate intensifies over the cost of medicines, a new analysis found that prescription drug prices were on average 2.5 times more expensive in the U.S. than in 32 other countries. And that gap widened to 3.4 times costlier when looking specifically at brand-name medications. … Continued

  • Senior Citiziens League

    With about 1 million supporters, The Senior Citizens League is one of the nation's largest nonpartisan seniors groups. Located just outside Washington, D.C., its mission is to promote and assist members and supporters, to educate and alert senior citizens about their rights and freedoms as U.S. Citizens, and to protect and defend the benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. The Senior Citizens League is a proud affiliate of TREA The Enlisted Association. Please visi more at or call 1-800-333-8725 for more information. .Ultimately, seniors aren't just a class of individuals who are a certain age — they are our mothers and fathers, grandparents, teachers, pastors, and public servants. They are each of us, either today or tomorrow. As a nation, it is incumbent upon us to prioritize safeguarding the futures of our senior citizens and addressing some of the obstacles to saving that exist both in our system and in our society. It is not just "their" future, it is our future. We're in this together. Let's secure our futures. .No change to 401(k)s or IRAs: Prior to enactment, concerns were high that tax reform would restrict the amount of pretax contributions working people could make to workplace retirement accounts. Congress did not do this, and the tax rules affecting these accounts, for the most part, remain the same. … Continued

Richard "Rick" Delaney joined the United States Air Force in June of 196He served three tours of duty in Southeast Asia in 1966, 1969, and 1971 as well as two tours to Europe in Germany and England. He has been stationed in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Wyoming, California Georgia and South Dakota. .The extensions will cost approximately 0 billion over ten years, and billion of that will be paid for by spending cuts and revenue increases. The remaining 0 billion, however, will be added to the budget deficit. ."Social Security Stops Trying To Collect On Old Debts By Seizing Tax Refunds," Marc Fisher, The Washington Post, April 14, 2014. .Now, allergy season has arrived and in the United States as many as 30 percent of adults and 40 percent of kids have seasonal allergies. .Congress Adjourns for Thanksgiving Break .Industry groups and health systems led by the American Hospital Association challenged the rule, arguing that the rule would do more harm than good because it won't "tell consumers their actual out-of-pocket costs, will likely produce confusion and may be less effective than the price-transparency tools the hospital field has been developing." .Spousal and survivor strategies also are important. One example is file-and-suspend, which allows a spouse to claim a spousal benefit while the individual defers claiming. Another is "claim now, claim more later," where the high earner in a married couple claims a spousal benefit based on the lower earning spouse's record, while delaying his or her own retired worker benefit. The idea is to generate higher benefits both for the individual as well as higher survivor benefits for widows. .It is times like these when Social Security benefits are increasingly important, when "the best laid plans" are going awry for millions of seniors. As Congress considers changes to the Social Security system, TSCL is urging Congress to make the need for adequate and stable benefits a priority. .Financial losses in real estate and retirement accounts of the Great Recession of 2008 have left today's retirees and Baby Boomers with far less home equity and assets to draw from in retirement, even though seniors are living longer. Retirements are spanning 25 and even thirty years, but today's seniors are going into retirement with little savings. A recent Harris poll found that 22 percent of retirees age 65 and older say they have none of their retirement savings left. These people are completely dependent on Social Security and other family members.