News

  • S 896 Social Security Fairness Act

    Here are some tips to identify false or misleading claims. .Nutritious food through the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP). .Reducing Medicare costs remains a top piece of unfinished business for TSCL. While Congress was successful in restraining a double-digit Medicare Part B increase in 2021, capping the increase at .90 per month rather than .60 more per month — I was particularly troubled to learn that .00 of the .90 Part B increase is a "repayment" charge. While TSCL congratulates Congress for passing legislation to hold the monthly Part B increase down, at least temporarily, the Part B increase wasn't "forgiven". The balance that won't be paid in 2021 will be recovered through a .00 per month repayment which will be tacked onto future Part B increases. That could take years. … Continued

  • Benefit Bulletin

    We at TSCL are not doctors or scientists. But with all the different voices being heard about what the right thing is to do or not to do, what we do urge you to be is very cautious. It makes sense to us to listen to the trained professionals in medical and scientific fields as we deal with our current health care situation. .The second session of the 113th Congress is nearing its end, and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) is pleased to report that 2014 has been a year to remember. Over the past few months, TSCL has hand-delivered hundreds of thousands of petitions to Members of Congress, urging them to support critical legislation like the CPI-E Act, the Notch Fairness Act, and the Strengthening Social Security Act. In the weeks leading up to the November elections, we sent out thousands of emails to members and supporters in an effort to help them get to know TSCL's long-time friends in Congress. .A Humana Medicare Advantage plan in Florida improperly collected nearly 0 million in payments in 2015 by overstating how sick some of its enrollees were. A new audit by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is seeking to get the money back. If successful, the audit penalty would be what has been described as "by far the largest" ever imposed on a Medicare Advantage company. But Humana has sharply disputed the OIG's findings, and has said that the recommendations "do not represent final determinations, and Humana will have the right to appeal." … Continued

On top of unexpected coverage shortfalls, TSCL's 2017 annual Survey of Senior Costs indicates that homeowners' insurance was the fastest growing housing cost over the past year. In fact, since 2000, the national average homeowners premium rose 154%, a rate of about 9.6% per year! .To address this issue, my office put together a two-pronged approach both locally and nationally. First, we held a resources fair in South Los Angeles, focusing on identifying and combatting senior scams with service providers that offered direct assistance for attendees. Second, I introduced a bipartisan resolution to call attention to the barrage of fraud attempts that seniors face nationwide. .This unexpected policy adjustment is largely attributable to the 6 billion in cuts to Medicare that Obamacare calls for. More than one-fifth of the cuts – approximately 6 billion – are to the Medicare Advantage program, which insures more than one-quarter of all seniors over the age of sixty-five. It's important to note that the savings from the cuts are not going back into the Medicare Trust Fund; instead, the money is going to help pay for the health insurance of younger, working adults under Obamacare. .The makers of all three vaccines have said that their shots proved to be anywhere from 70% to 95% effective in clinical trials in protecting people from illness caused by the virus. But it was unclear whether the vaccines could also suppress transmission of the virus — that is, whether someone inoculated could still acquire the virus without getting sick and spread it to others. .Use BenefitsCheckup.org to screen for programs in your area. If you don't have a computer, ask a friend or family member to help you do an online Benefits Checkup. The service asks you a series of questions about where you live, your income, and a number of other qualifications, and matches you up with programs that can provide help with medications among a menu of other valuable benefits. .The Senior Citizens League believes it is time to focus on the adequacy of Social Security benefits to meet rising Medicare costs. COLAs have been insufficient to cover the Part B premium in five out of the past ten years — 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, and 201This is a clear indication that Social Security COLA is not adequate, and not doing the job it was intended to do. . .The Senior Citizens League enthusiastically supports the Social Security 2100 Act and we look forward to working with Congressman Larson in the 116th Congress to help build additional support for his critically important bill. For progress updates, follow The Senior Citizens League on Twitter or visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. .Last week, the two leaders of the Republicans and Democrats in the Senate finally were able to reach an agreement on organizing the Senate for the next two years. An agreement was needed because each party has 50 Senators. Because of that, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is President of the Senate as provided for in the Constitution, will break any tie votes that may occur. That includes the vote to organize the Senate. .Notch Babies receive lower benefits than other seniors near to them in age with similar earnings histories. For example, in 2012, the average benefit of 95-year old Notch Babies was ,31Yet the average benefit of 96-year old seniors was ,390, a monthly difference of Under normal circumstances the benefits of retirees who are younger are usually slightly higher, because wages used to determine benefits tend to increase over time. This is not the case with people born during the Notch period.