News

  • H R 1984 Fair Social Security Act

    The Social Security Administration calculates benefit withholdings based on the amount you report that you will earn for the year, and then will withhold all benefit payments for a certain period of months to cover excess earnings. For example, say you received a Social Security benefit payment of 0 per month in 2007 (,800 for the year). Let's say that during 2007 you worked and earned ,450 or ,490 over the earnings limit (,450 - ,960). Social Security would withhold ,745 in benefit payments covering slightly more than 6 months of your payments. .While employment plunged at the height of the recession in 2009, new data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) suggests that millions of illegal immigrant workers hung onto their jobs. Employers sent in 7.7 million wage reports of workers whose names and Social Security numbers (SSN) don't match those on the SSA's files for 200The "mismatched" wage reports are frequently caused when the SSA receives copies of W2s for illegals who work under stolen, false or invalid SSNs. Although employment among illegal workers appears to have declined in 2009, the number of such "mismatched" wage reports that the SSA received from 2000 - 2009 averaged 9.5 million per year. .These higher Medicare Part B premiums, in turn, contributed to ongoing flat growth in Social Security benefits in subsequent years — even when a 2 percent COLA became payable two years later in 201The Medicare Part B premium took the entire 2 percent COLA of about half of all beneficiaries — the half with lower benefits. Many beneficiaries did not see any growth in their net Social Security benefits until they received a 2.8% COLA in 2019. … Continued

  • Legislative Update June 2015

    The good news is that both issues tend to be non-partisan. However, the bad news is that both cost a considerable amount of money, which means more federal spending. That's why the bills we support that would fix those issues have been tied up in committee for so long and have not been able to move through either the House or Senate. .The orders were issued on a Friday which left little time for analysts to review them and comment prior to the weekend. However, since then we have learned new information, we want to share with you. .The Obama administration recently proposed new regulations to deny Medicare to illegal immigrants and remove them from Medicare rolls. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are proposing U.S. citizenship or lawful presence in the United States as a new requirement for getting Medicare. … Continued

Who Will Decide the Future of Your Benefits? .According to experts, the risk of catching the coronavirus on a plane is relatively low if the airline is following the procedures laid out by public health experts: enforcing mask compliance, spacing out available seats and screening for sick passengers. .On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to question Congressman Tom Price (GA-6), an orthopedic surgeon from Georgia who was nominated by President Trump to become the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). If confirmed, Congressman Price will lead the agency that has jurisdiction over Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and many other critical health programs. .Why Can't Legal Guardians Receive Social Security Benefits on Behalf of Grandchild? .This week, one new cosponsor – Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD-7) – signed on to the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E) Act (H.R. 1030), bringing the bill's total up to twenty-five. If signed into law, the CPI-E Act would base the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) upon the spending patterns of seniors. Currently, it is based upon the way that young, urban workers spend their money – a method that underestimates the spending inflation that seniors experience. A study conducted by TSCL this year found that seniors have lost 31 percent of their purchasing power since 2000 – a clear sign that the current COLA is growing too slowly. .Surprisingly, there was no discussion of slowing the growth of cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) by switching to the more slowly-growing "chained" CPI. The proposal is getting increasing attention (mostly favorable) in media editorials. Switching to the more slowly-growing chained CPI would reduce cost-of-living-adjustments, and many policy experts view the option as a front-runner for reducing the deficit. .The jury is still out on value-based health systems, and whether they can save any significant amount of money remains to be seen. The Congressional Budget Office issued a recent report outlining a number of issues and unintended consequences such as providing an incentive for providers to improve their "quality rankings" by avoiding sicker patients. Critics say that the system places a new burden on primary care doctors that would potentially punish providers financially for patients' bad health habits and behaviors. .TSCL is relieved that Congress has finally reached an agreement after weeks of heated negotiations. Another government shutdown like the one that occurred for sixteen days in 2013 could have resulted in delayed Social Security checks or interrupted reimbursements for doctors who treat Medicare patients. We will follow the movement of the deal very closely in the coming days, until it is signed into law by President Obama. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook or our new Twitter page for frequent updates. .During the years in which inflation as measured by the CPI-W has been the highest, the difference between it and the chained CPI has been greatest. In 2008, for example, when the CPI-W paid a COLA of 5.8% the following year, the chained CPI would have only paid 5.2%, a difference of 0.6 of a percentage point. "And if the government were to use the initial chained CPI data to calculate COLAs for 2012, seniors would get just 2.7% instead of 3.6%, a difference of 0.9 of a percentage point," Hyland says.