News

  • Notch Bulletin Notch Babies May Qualify For Medicare Savings Programs

    Major findings: .The Senior Citizens League believes that expanding "means testing" to Part D and freezing the income levels through 2019 is a backdoor benefit cut that will eventually affect even middle-income seniors. The chief reason is that as the economy grows over the next decade, the frozen income thresholds will not increase in-kind, subjecting many more seniors to the "means test." The Senior Citizens League estimates that given different inflation scenarios, individual seniors who made between ,000 and ,000 in 2010 could be subjected to the "means test" in 2019, because of the frozen income thresholds. In addition, if the income thresholds for the "means test" had been allowed to increase, (the case before the PPACA was signed into law), we estimate that they would have increased to an amount between 0,500 to 1,800 in 2019. .Mismatched earnings reports remain in the ESF until SSA obtains evidence to link the unidentified earnings to a valid SSN — a process termed "earnings reinstatement."(14) When SSA encounters reports that don't match its records, SSA goes through an involved, and time-consuming attempt to make a match. Reinstatements can occur any time, even years later. … Continued

  • Legislative Update Octobernovember 2014

    I'm enrolled in a Part D drug plan. I thought I would get my brand name drug Eliquis, for a copay, but I was charged 5.4Why was that? ."Using the chained CPI to calculate COLAs would make the problem even worse," Hyland contends. "The chained CPI is calculated much differently than the Consumer Price Index for Workers (CPI-W), the current CPI, and would have a significant effect on reducing the total amount of lifetime Social Security benefits that people receive," Hyland says. "The data certainly suggests this is the case," he adds. .TSCL enthusiastically supports H.R. 1902 and H.R. 242, and we were pleased to see support grow for both of them this week. For more information, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. … Continued

On Tuesday, new and veteran lawmakers in the House and Senate met on Capitol Hill for the swearing in of the 115th Congress. As expected, Congressman Paul Ryan (WI-1) was re-elected to the Speaker position with 239 votes in the House, and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (CA-12) was re-elected to the House Minority Leader position with 189 votes. .Mary Johnson .The president might also hurt himself on the campaign trail. Linking prices paid by Medicare to an international index that includes countries with nationalized or government-run health-care systems would undercut one of Trump's favorite criticisms of Democratic proposals: they represent "socialism." .Those receiving work authorization become vested for benefits with as little as ten years of earnings. The oldest of those who are eligible for the deferred action could potentially have worked illegally long enough to be "vested," or nearly so, for Social Security already — including disability benefits. Once illegal workers gain a work-authorized Social Security number, individuals who have evidence of earnings, even for jobs worked under invalid Social Security numbers, may claim and reinstate those earnings under their own number. The earnings are then later used to determine Social Security benefits. .For those planning retirement however, it is the estimated dollar amount in Social Security benefits, not the replacement rate, that what one uses to determine a retirement budget, or how much more one will need to save for retirement. When one retires, it is the actual benefit amount, not the replacement rate that one must live on. One of the most frequent requests for services received by Social Security Administration is for an estimate of benefits. While no promises of benefits are made, millions of estimates are made annually. If the rules are changed abruptly, as they were for those born during the Notch period, this leaves no time to save for the shortfalls in benefits (if they can be foreseen ahead of time). .Based on consumer price index (CPI) data through April of this year, Johnson estimates that the COLA for 2021 will be zero. That estimate could change, however, since there are still five months of consumer price index data to be collected before the Social Security Administration announces the COLA in October. .CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf made the report to President Obama's Fiscal Commission which is developing a plan to shrink the national deficit by 2015 — a target that TSCL believes will be extremely difficult to achieve without deep cuts to Social Security and widespread tax increases on middle-income taxpayers. .In a January 2017 survey of The Senior Citizens League's members and supporters, 34 percent said they itemize deductions for out-of-pocket healthcare costs most years. One member of The Senior Citizens League – William P. from California – recently contacted us to share his concerns about the elimination of the medical expense deduction. William is home-bound due to several medical conditions, and he relies on home health aides to provide him with lifesaving care on a daily basis. At the age of 61, William is not yet eligible for Medicare and he expects the out-of-pocket cost of his care to total ,000 by the end of this year. The elimination of the medical expense deduction would be a major financial loss for him. .TSCL's legislative agenda