News

  • Benefit Bulletin July 2021

    Your husband would need to apply for Social Security disability benefits to learn if his medical condition meets the Social Security Administration's definition of disability. But before getting started, it's important to understand your choices, since your husband is also old enough to start Social Security retirement benefits. .With respect to Ad Servers: The Senior Citizens League does not partner with or have special relationships with any ad server companies. From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at some time in the future we will post the policy changes to our website to notify you of these changes and provide you with the ability to opt-out of these new uses. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our website periodically. .Over the past nine years, COLAs have averaged just 1.4%, so it comes as a frustrating surprise to retirees to learn that, in the decade prior to 2000, COLAs averaged 3% per year, more than twice the average today. Because COLAs compound, and the monthly benefit grows over time, lower COLAs mean less Social Security income than retirees might have planned for. That in turn means spending through retirement savings more quickly than planned. … Continued

  • Congressional Corner Reduce Deficit In A Balanced Way Not On The Backs Of Seniors

    The audit is part of long-delayed plans to recover money that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says it overpaid to plans that exaggerated the severity of illnesses of patients treated. The problem is one that the federal government has struggled with, unsuccessfully, for more than a decade. According to one estimate that appeared in Health Affairs, CMS will overpay Medicare Advantage plans by 0 billion over the next decade if the current "coding intensity adjustment" system remains in place. .Second, three new cosponsors signed on to the Social Security Expansion Act (H.R. 1114), bringing the total up to thirty-six. The new cosponsors are Representative Robert Brady (PA-1), Representative Albio Sires (NJ-8), and Representative Tim Ryan (OH-13). If adopted, H.R. 1114 would enhance Social Security benefits by basing COLAs on the CPI-E, increasing monthly benefits by around , improving the Special Minimum Benefit, applying the payroll tax to income above 0,000, and applying a 6.2 percent tax on investment income for wealthy individuals. .As TSCL supporters well know, Congress has not been able to accomplish significant legislative reform to the convoluted drug pricing system even though anger about high drug prices has been rising for a long time. … Continued

What If Food Costs Grew As Fast As Medicare Part B Premiums? .Use the lowest price among other economically advanced countries – the so-called "favored nations rule" - to set what Medicare pays for certain drugs administered in a doctor's office, including many cancer medications. This would apply to the most expensive medications covered by Medicare's 'Part B,' which pays for outpatient care. .Negotiations on how to fund the Social Security payroll tax cut and the Medicare physician "doc fix" continued this week. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (MI-4) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (MT) led the 20 congressional conference committee members in talks aimed at producing a bill by the February 29th deadline. .Cutting off the flow of benefits when a Social Security recipient dies is important to protect program finances from going to people who aren't entitled to them. The Social Security Administration maintains a list of deceased beneficiaries called the "Death Master File" to help public agencies and private companies know when a Social Security number is no longer valid. Keeping that list up to date is vitally important. But a new report from the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration confirms that the Social Security Administration indeed has a major problem. .The COLA will be announced on October 19th, and Medicare premiums and deductibles also will be announced in the fall. Seniors who are already retired and those nearing retirement have few options if the benefits they rely on today were to be cut. TSCL is fighting such proposals affecting the benefits of current retirees, believing that seniors need a COLA that more adequately protects the buying power of Social Security, and TSCL supports H.R. 776, the Guaranteed 3% COLA Act, introduced by Representative Eliot Engel (NY-17). .Get free one-on-one counseling. If all this makes you want to run away screaming, but you still have questions, just call your State Health Insurance Program (SHIP). You can get free one-on-one Medicare benefits counseling that can help you check your drug plan and figure out your charges. Many of these programs operate through local area agencies on aging. You can find local contact information at this website: https://www.shiptacenter.org. .According to a report in The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper, "There are further administrative steps that need to happen before the proposal will actually take effect and result in lower drug prices. The secretary of Health and Human Services will have to issue the details of the proposal, and there will be an array of questions as to how the policy will work in practice. .Using Generic Drugs Could Save Billions of Dollars .For more information or to view a list of cosponsors, click here.