News

  • Benefit Bulletin Octobernovember 2014

    Your responses to our annual Senior Surveys are a key means to helping us convince Congress to move forward on key issues. Please take our 2021 Senior Survey. .On Tuesday, the Senate HELP Committee held a bipartisan hearing to discuss the rising costs of prescription drugs. Members of the committee heard from four expert witnesses, including Doctor Paul Howard – Director of Health Policy at the Manhattan Institute – and Doctor Gerard Anderson – Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. .Still, COLA cuts remain a key proposal of major debt reduction plans. In his budget last year, President Obama proposed changing the way COLAs are calculated by using a more slowly-growing measure of inflation, known as the "chained" CPI. "If our nation is going to correct income inequality, it should start with payroll taxes," Cates says. "Under current law, millionaires pay no Social Security taxes at all on earnings over 7,000, while average workers pay Social Security taxes on every dime they earn," Cates points out. "Cutting the benefits of financially vulnerable seniors and others can't be justified when millionaires are getting a multibillion dollar tax break," Cates asserts. "TSCL urges President Obama NOT to use Social Security COLAs to cut the debt," he adds. … Continued

  • Category Legislative News Page 18

    TSCL strongly supports legislation that would correct how COLAs are calculated to more accurately represent what seniors and the disabled must spend on their out-of-pocket healthcare costs. We strongly encourage you to contact your Members of Congress and attend local town halls during the upcoming campaign season. Help us make the case why a fair and adequate COLA is a necessity to protect Social Security benefits from losing buying power as costs rise. .Locality pay adjustments are currently used to adjust the paychecks of federal workers. Federal employees receive a two-part pay adjustment that includes base pay (which is established by a specific formula set by law) and locality pay adjustments. The locality pay adjustment varies depending on where the employee works. The parameters aren't set by law but use metropolitan statistical areas to define locality pay areas. .Do not respond to calls or texts from unknown numbers, or any others that appear suspicious. And remember that government agencies, banks, credit card companies, or utility companies will never call you to ask for personal information or money. … Continued

Even though flying is a relatively low-risk activity, traveling should still be avoided unless absolutely necessary. .Sources: "Miami Actor, Cable Station Founder, Arrested In Medicare Fraud Takedown," Jay Weaver, The Miami Herald, May 14, 2013. .The proposal to switch to the chained CPI has come up numerous times during past budget negotiations over lifting the federal debt limit. Most recently the proposal appeared last December in a 2016 House bill that would reform Social Security, and in an alternate fiscal year 2017 budget proposed by the Republican Study Committee. The proposal remains a key provision of debt reduction plans, because so many federal benefit programs and the tax code are adjusted using the CPI. The CPI-U has recently been proposed to index Medicaid payments in the Senate health bill. Economists have estimated that adopting the chained CPI would cut Social Security by 0 billion over ten years. .I'm new to Medicare. I didn't realize that Medicare doesn't cover eye or hearing exams like my former insurance at work. My income is pretty low. Where can I go to get these services? .(Washington, DC) – A budget proposal to switch to an alternate consumer price index, for calculating the annual Social Security cost – of - living - adjustment (COLA) is a bad deal for older and disabled Americans, says The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The proposed "chained" consumer price index (CPI) would grow even more slowly than the conventional one that is currently used to determine the annual COLA. .A number of Social Security recipients told their stories to the members of the subcommittee and explained the problems they face, as well as their desires for improvements to the program. .Critics of mandatory arbitration say the agreements stack the deck against long term care residents and consumers. Unlike civil suits which go to court, arbitration is private, and there's no judge or jury. There are no rules of evidence that arbitrators have to follow under the law, and there's no oversight. Critics also contend that consumers are less likely to win their cases in private arbitration and, if they do win, they tend to get much less money than they would in court. .As of 2019, one quarter of American adults had no retirement savings at all. Only 36 percent of non-retired American adults think that "their retirement saving is on track," according to the Federal Reserve's annual report. There is no question about it: our nation can do a better job of equipping and encouraging our senior citizens to be prepared for this next season of their lives and provide more opportunities for Americans to plan long-range. Part of this can be done at a policy level, by passing practical reforms that address the obstacles to saving that some Americans experience. We must also address this on a personal level, by ensuring more Americans are equipped with the knowledge and resources they need to effectively save for and secure their futures. .The Covid-19 pandemic has both heightened the urgency of reining in pharmaceutical costs yet also made it harder for lawmakers to act. Drug makers say limiting their profits could hamper efforts to create a vaccine against the virus, but medicines to treat it come with significant price tags. Gilead Sciences, Inc., set the price for its widely used Remdesivir at ,340 for a five-day treatment.