News

  • Q July 2017

    Drug Companies start effort on New Drug Treatments .For example, one Maine resident worked in the private sector, paying into Social Security for fifteen years before she returned to the teaching profession. Her earned Social Security benefits would have totaled 0 a month. However, due to the WEP, she receives only 0 each month from the program. She is also unable to collect Social Security spousal benefits due to the GPO, even though her spouse paid into the system throughout his entire career. In retirement, she must rely almost entirely upon her teaching pension, which is modest since she spent only a decade in the profession. She told the National Education Association, "If I had known the severe financial penalty I was to pay for returning to teaching, I don't think I would have done it." .Sources: "The Out-of-Pocket Cost Burden For Specialty Drugs in Medicare Part D in 2019," Juliette Cubanski, Wyatt Koma, Tricia Neuman, Kaiser Family Foundation, January 201https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/the-out-of-pocket-cost-burden-for-specialty-drugs-in-medicare-part-d-in-2019/ "How Trump's Latest Plan to Cut Drug Prices Will Affect You," Katie Thomas and Reed Abelson, The New York Times, February 5, 2019/ … Continued

  • Tscl Files Third Foia Lawsuit

    We will get through this. .Medicare investigations returned for every dollar invested in recent years. Let's tell Congress to stop being so "penny wise and pound foolish." Sequester cuts are like writing a blank check for crooks, and have no place in Medicare fraud control programs. Ask your Member of Congress to cosponsor The PRIME Act (H.R. 2305) and (S.1123.) .TSCL would like to thank Reps. Mike McIntyre (NC-7), G.K. Butterfield (NC-1), and Charles Gonzalez (TX-20) for taking the time to discuss the issues that are most important to our members and supporters. TSCL also met with Jeremy House, Legislative Assistant to Rep. Butterfield, Conrad Risher, Legislative Assistant to Rep. Gonzalez, Tommy Walker, Legislative Assistant to Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-1), Rebecca Shaw, Legislative Assistant to Rep. Chris Gibson (NY-20), and Nathaniel Ferguson, Legislative Assistant to Rep. Scott Rigell (VA-2). … Continued

Prescription Drug Re-Importation – Making safe, secure re-importation a reality. ."Congressional Pay Grows 15 Times Faster Than Social Security Checks" .In the coming weeks, TSCL will continue to monitor the "myRA" and immigration reform issues that President Obama spoke about on Tuesday evening. We will provide updates here in the Legislative News section of our website as more details become available. .Seniors and the Covid Vaccine .Finally, one new cosponsor – Rep. Ted Yoho (FL-3) – signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 1795), bringing the total up to one hundred and seventeen. If signed into law, the bill would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) – two federal provisions that unfairly reduce the earned Social Security benefits of millions of state and local government employees each year. . I'm helping my mother shop for an assisted living facility. She's considering one within reasonable driving distance, but a clause in the paperwork stipulates that she must agree to mandatory arbitration to settle any disputes. Can you explain the pros and cons of this? .Finally, the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R.1205) from Congressman Rodney Davis (IL-13) gained ten new cosponsors this week, bringing the total up to 158 in the House. The bill, if adopted, would repeal two provisions of the Social Security Act that reduce the earned benefits of millions of state and local government employees each year. .Sources: Options For Reducing The Deficit: 2014 to 2023, Congressional Budget Office, November 2013. .Analysts say that deeper Medicare cuts may be back on the table by the end of the year. One of the most controversial proposals would convert Medicare into a system called "premium support." Under the proposal, the government would allocate a fixed amount of money for Medicare beneficiaries' premiums; and people would then purchase coverage from private health plans that would provide all their care.