News

  • Could Automatic Medicare Cuts Affect You

    According to the Congressional Research Service, patients would be unlikely to see a reduction in benefits or any other direct impacts of sequestration, but it would have a large impact on how much providers are paid by Medicare for their services, sending them back to pre-pandemic rates. .Talk to prospective assisted living or long term care facility management about your real estate problems. Occupancy rates at assisted living facilities have fallen, coinciding with the collapse in real estate. Find out if the facility offers special terms or agreements for people who are waiting for their homes to sell, and if so, what those terms might be. .TSCL feels strongly that Social Security beneficiaries are entitled to transparency and honesty from the federal government, and we believe that Congressman Jones's H.R. 3500 would go a long way in ensuring that. We enthusiastically support the Honesty in CPI Reporting Act, and we look forward to working with Congressman Jones in the coming months to help build support for it. … Continued

  • Legislative Update August 2015

    "Unfortunately for seniors and their families these extreme differences in cost are not unique," says Johnson. "Almost every Medicare beneficiary enrolled in a Part D drug or Medicare health plan can achieve savings if they carefully compare all their options every year and switch when they find better coverage," Johnson says. "All that's required is computer access, the Medicare Drug and Health Plan Compare tools on the Medicare website at www.medicare.gov and determination to give it a try," she notes. .Sources: "Relief From Deportation: Demographic Profile Of The DREAMers Potentially Eligible Under The Deferred Action Policy," Migration Policy Institute, August 2012. ."Super Committee" Holds Second Hearing … Continued

For tips on which questions you should ask your Member of Congress at your next town hall meeting, click HERE. To find contact information for your Members of Congress, to learn about important issues affecting seniors, or to sign a petition to Congress, visit the ACTION CENTER of our website. .If signed into law, H.R. 242 would require the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare Part D beneficiaries. Currently, Medicare is prohibited from doing so despite the fact that other federal health programs are required to. If adopted, H.R. 242 would go a long way in reducing the costs of lifesaving medications for millions of Part D beneficiaries, and it would result in lower spending on prescription drugs for the Medicare program. .TSCL enthusiastically supports the bills mentioned above, and we were pleased to see support grow for each of them this week. .In June, the Medicare trustees estimated that Part B premiums will rise only .50 in 2019, from 4 to 5.50. However, according to a recent survey conducted by The Senior Citizens League, roughly 25 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are currently paying less than 4 per month due to a special "hold harmless" provision of law. Their Part B premium hikes will be much larger than .50, offsetting a larger portion of the 2019 COLA. .The benefit reduction would be caused by a feature of the Social Security benefit formula that is sensitive to economic recessions and high unemployment. The first step in calculating benefits is to adjust the individual's earnings using the average wage index (AWI) in order to convert the value of past earnings into today's dollars. The AWI is also used to adjust the earnings levels that determine the portion of their average monthly earnings that people are allowed to keep as their benefit. .The Medicare report estimated the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will become depleted in just six more year. .Rick retired from the U.S. Air Force as a First Sergeant with the rank of Master Sergeant in October of 1989 and makes his home in Warner Robins, Georgia, with his wife of 43 years, Pat. .Just how bad is it? We were stunned to learn just how big the disparity in drug prices can be. Recently I compared the highest and lowest prices of the top ten most-prescribed drugs in the U.S. using the Medicare drug plan finder. In my area, a monthly supply of diabetes drug Lantus Solostar for example, ranges from a high of 2.00 from the mail order pharmacy of First Health Part D Value Plus plan to a low of .75 from the network retail pharmacies for SilverScript Choice. In fact, the cost difference between the highest and lowest-cost plans for the ten drugs compared averaged 3 per month! .Defense Department Shutting Military Families and Retirees out of Treatment Facilities