News

  • Category Issues Medicare Part B Faqs

    Recommended reading: "Get What's Yours - The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security," Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Philip Moeller, Paul Solman, and "How to Make Your Money Last: The Indispensable Retirement Guide," Jane Bryant Quinn. .Unlike AARP, The Senior Citizens League is a true grassroots organization. Almost one hundred percent of our revenue comes from individual donations, and we do not sell any products to our members. We even refuse outside advertising in our materials. Our sole focus is on education and protection of the Social Security and Medicare benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. .When we contacted the governor's office for evidence to back up DeSantis' comments, press secretary Cody McCloud didn't produce any studies or statistics. Instead, he cited the Florida Department of Health's contact tracing program, writing that it "has not yielded any information that would suggest any patients have been infected while travelling on a commercial aircraft." … Continued

  • Hearings On The Hill

    Before doing anything else make sure you have a realistic budget, and think long term. You want your income and savings to be adequate as long as possible, 30 years or even longer is not unrealistic for someone your age. In developing a budget, look back over at least three years to include large expenditures for periodic home maintenance and repairs, transportation, medical costs and other large costs. Include what you pay in taxes. Once you get an expense figure, allow for at least 3% per year for inflation. Then tally up your income and assets, including the value and expected income from retirement accounts and pensions, if any. .Why ban the use of earnings from unauthorized work to determine Social Security benefits? Under current law Social Security uses all earnings to calculate Social Security benefits. That means earnings of unauthorized immigrants from jobs worked under invalid and fraudulent Social Security numbers (SSN) can be used both to qualify for benefits and for the calculation of the initial retirement benefit. There is no official published data on the amount of wages on file attributable to aliens working without authorization, but the Social Security Administration maintains an earnings suspense file that represents an estimated 3.5 billion in wages from 2000 through 2010[2], most of it believed to be attributable to illegal workers. Under immigration reform, that could mean a huge new liability for Social Security in the future, triggering more rounds of cuts and higher taxes. .To get your health services through Original Medicare. If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, deductibles and co-pays may apply to these preventive services. Check with your plan to see what costs and rules apply. … Continued

According to The Senior Citizens League's research, Social Security benefits have lost 34 percent of their purchasing power since 2000 due in large part to inadequate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) and rising health care costs. .After a much-anticipated election and an action-packed lame-duck session, the 113th Congress has officially begun and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) is gearing up for a busy year. Although the November election did not drastically alter the makeup on Capitol Hill, TSCL is expecting many new successes and challenges to arise. With the election finally behind them, lawmakers are able to focus on some of the complex policy issues that sit high on their agendas, like deficit reduction, immigration reform, and comprehensive tax reform. ."We believe this unannounced policy of increased enforcement is irresponsible," said Representative Gil Gutknecht (MN) in a letter to the FDA and Customs. Gutknecht also said that the seizures violate the will of Congress, which has for three years denied FDA funding for the purpose of preventing reimportation of prescription drugs for personal use. ."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. .In 1977 Congress enacted changes to the Social Security benefit formula that affected seniors just two years from first entitlement to Social Security. A transitional formula supplied by Congress to phase in the changes, failed to prevent abrupt cuts and big disparities – as much as 1.80 per month in the well – publicized case of two sisters who worked for the same company. .Based on your age, you potentially may be able to use a claiming strategy at your full retirement age (66) that could provide you with a divorced spousal benefit, while you wait for your own benefit to grow. Once you have reached full retirement age you can choose to receive only the divorced spouse's benefit and delay receiving retirement benefits based on your own work record until a later date or when you turn age 70. ."Higher gasoline and transportation prices in particular are behind the high COLA estimate for 2022, because those expenditures are given greater weight or importance in the consumer price index (CPI) that's used to calculate the COLA. That works to the advantage of retired and disabled beneficiaries for the COLA payable in January of 202That has not been the case for many of the past 12 years when cheap gasoline, and other falling prices dragged down the COLA. Since 2010, COLAs have averaged just 1.4%. Inflation was so low that no COLA was payable at all in 2010, 2011, and 201In 2017 the COLA was almost zero, just 0.3 percentage point. .Prohibits benefits for disability beneficiaries found guilty of fraudulently concealing work. ."CBO's updated estimate, based on the latest economic data, continues to show that the Average Wage Index will likely drop due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and millions of Americans will receive lower Social Security benefits unless Congress acts. A medium earner in the affected cohort could lose 0 a year for the rest of their lives. While this is a smaller cut than initially estimated, Congress must still fix this flaw in the benefit formula. These are earned benefits, and already many seniors are just scraping by with the current modest benefits. That is why I will be reintroducing the Social Security COVID-19 Correction and Equity Act to fix the benefit formula and ensure it does not happen again," said Larson.