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  • Are You Paying Too Much For Your Medicare Health And Drug Plan

    Even if your income will be slightly higher in 2018 you should apply, because the income and resource limits are adjusted annually and will likely be somewhat higher next year. "Resources " refer to money in checking and savings accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Don't rule out applying just because you own your own home. Your home, car, household items, burial plot up to ,500 for burial expenses per person, and life insurance policies ARE NOT counted as resources. .The U.S. – Mexico Totalization Agreement—which was signed by the Social Security Administrations of both the U.S. and Mexico in 2004, and is due to undergo review by the current or future President(s)—continues to pose a threat to Social Security beneficiaries. Because of a loophole, if the President signs the final Executive Totalization Social Security Agreement with Mexico, it could lead to Social Security benefits going to individuals who worked in the U.S. while illegal. .Understand which type works best for you. Medicare supplemental or Medigap premiums currently tend to be higher, often by hundreds of dollars, than those of Medicare Advantage Plans. In fact, there are Medicare Advantage Plans that offered hospital, doctor, and prescription drug coverage for That is why a bipartisan coalition in the House recently proposed two new bills to prevent "price gouging" for "taxpayer funded COVID-19 drugs" to ensure affordable pricing. .TSCL supports legislation that would strengthen the COLA three ways: .It closed the Medicare outpatient therapy cap. Before the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act, Medicare coverage for various forms of outpatient therapy – including physical therapy and speech therapy – was arbitrarily capped at ,500 per year. For years, lawmakers sought to repeal this cap since it limited the care older Americans could receive under Medicare. TSCL advocated tirelessly for Congressman Erik Paulsen's (MN-3) bipartisan Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act (H.R. 807), and we were thrilled that a similar provision was included in this year's bipartisan budget agreement, repealing the therapy cap once and for all. premiums in 200Don't let the lure of zero premiums fool you, because you will pay in other ways, especially if you get sick. … Continued

  • Congressional Inaction Could Lead To Show Down Over Social Security Benefits

    How much are you over-paying for your prescription drugs? The only way to find out is to do a drug plan comparison based on all the drugs you take. This is the time of year you can make changes during the Medicare Open Enrollment period, which runs through the month of November and ends December 7th. Give the Medicare Drug Plan Finder a try. You can get free one-on-one counseling by contacting your local Area on Aging, State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) or senior centers and ask for help comparing Medicare drug plans. .Discussion on the bill will likely continue into the summer, and TSCL will continue to monitor the ongoing debate. We remain hopeful that lawmakers will address any loopholes that would allow immigrants to claim Social Security credits based on work done illegally. In addition, TSCL is concerned that those with provisional status could have access to Social Security and Medicare benefits before they are granted citizenship. Both of these issues would put an unnecessary and unspecified strain on the Trust Funds, and we will continue to inform Members of Congress about potential issues in the coming weeks. .This week, TSCL's legislative consultants, Former Congressman David Funderburk and Mrs. Betty Funderburk, along with TSCL's legislative assistant, Jarrad Hensley, were on Capitol Hill for meetings with Members of Congress and their top staff. … Continued

This week, lawmakers remained in their home states and districts for a week-long spring break. They are expected to return to Capitol Hill on Monday, March 2In the meantime, many Members of Congress will be hosting town hall meetings, which The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) encourages its supporters to attend. .TSCL enthusiastically supports the five bills listed above and we were pleased to see support grow for them on Capitol Hill this week. For more information, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. To thank your representative for becoming a cosponsor or to request their support for legislation, visit our "Contact Congress" page. .Legislation to allow the importation of less-costly FDA-approved prescription drugs from Canada and other nations is still pending in Congress, and TSCL continues to work for enactment. Seniors like you and your wife who order prescription drugs by mail from Canada faced a particularly tough decision about Medicare Part D. Either you enroll in a Part D plan and quite likely pay more than you do now, or don't enroll and face the risk of paying a steep penalty if you change their mind and sign up after the May 15 deadline. .Now, with the massive amounts of money being spent by Congress to deal with the coronavirus, which is all borrowed money, we cannot help but wonder what Congress will do when the trust funds for Social Security and Medicare become insolvent. There is still time to fix the programs if the trust funds remain as they are now but cutting the payroll would be devastating and would create a new crisis for seniors that we do not need and should not have to face. .During the recent government shutdown, a group of feisty World War II vets managed to do what Congress failed miserably to do for another 15 days – reopen a part of our shuttered government. The National Mall and parks in Washington D.C. were closed to visitors. But on day one of the shutdown, CNN reported that "busloads of World War II vets, many in wheel chairs, broke past the barricades to visit the World War II Memorial as onlookers applauded." As the cameras rolled and several Members of Congress were busy trading blame, a line of vets rolled past security officers "who willingly stepped aside," CNN reported. .The calculation of the COLA is based on the percentage of difference in the average third quarter change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Clerical Workers and Wage Earners (CPI-W) from one year to the next. In late August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina knocked out petroleum production, causing gasoline and other consumer prices to surge in September. The CPI-W shot up an astonishing 1.5 percent between August and September of that year. But since Katrina, the CPI-W has increased .042 percent on average from August to September. "Even if costs were to rise as much as they did after Katrina, the COLA for 2018 would still be about 2 percent," Johnson says. .Sixty – seven percent of seniors participating in the survey said they already spend up to one-third of their Social Security benefits on Medicare costs. Another 21 percent said they spent up to one-half. "Because healthcare costs are rising more rapidly than Social Security benefits, spending on Medicare takes an increasing share of senior income as seniors age," says Cates. .The plan contained a list of 50 military treatment facilities that would see changes in some way over the next several years in the services they offer. Of those, 37 would stop seeing military family members and retirees altogether. At least 12 states would have more than one treatment facility changed with regard to its mission. .To counter concerns over the cost of "fixing" the Notch and the financial solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund, TSCL backs an alternative "capped-cost" solution. "The Notch Fairness Act" would provide Notch Babies born from 1917 through 1926, or their survivors who receive benefits based on their accounts, a choice of either improved monthly benefits, or a lump-sum of ,000 payable over a four-year period. Recent surveys of TSCL members show more than 75% favor the lump-sum legislation.