News

  • Legislative Update July 2011 Advisor Feed

    TSCL strongly supports The PRIME Act, bipartisan legislation that would prevent the loss of billions in Medicare dollars every year. The PRIME act would make it more difficult to misuse Medicare provider billing information used in prescriber fraud. The legislation also requires the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and law enforcement to take steps to curb the use of stolen physician identities. .Finally, the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act (H.R. 711) also gained one new cosponsor this week. Rep. Jared Nadler (NY-10) signed on to it, bringing the cosponsor total up to 10That bill, if signed into law, would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) while establishing a new formula for the non-covered earnings of future retirees. It would also create a separate formula for retirees who are currently affected by the WEP. TSCL believes H.R. 711 is a sensible step forward, and we hope it continues to gain strong support in the months ahead. .Until then, TSCL will continue to monitor the movement of President Obama's immigration orders closely, since they could significantly affect the Social Security and Medicare programs if implemented. We will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website. … Continued

  • Category Issues Medicare Part B Page 3

    Can We Trust Congress After Surprise Social Security Cuts? . Find out which drug store has the lowest cost-sharing before you fill. Your cost sharing can be dramatically higher depending on where and how you fill your prescription (retail versus mail order). Make sure you are using a preferred vs. standard network pharmacy and compare the prices of retail pharmacies with getting a 90-day supply from your drug plan's mail order pharmacy. For example, if you are enrolled in the Wellcare Wellness Rx plan and get your Eliquis from a standard in-network pharmacy, your copay for Eliquis after the 5 deductible would be during the initial coverage phase, and 7.38 in the Part D coverage gap. However, if you get your Eliquis from a preferred in-network pharmacy the co-pay is .00 during the initial coverage phase and 3.36 in the coverage gap. Depending on where you live, and your drug plan's mail order pharmacy, sometimes you may save a little more using mail order. .One of the uncertain Democrats is Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. His state is home to many big-name pharmaceutical companies and he voted against a measure to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices in the Senate Finance Committee in 2019. … Continued

To receive benefits on your ex-spouse's record, you must be unmarried, and your ex-spouse must be entitled to a Social Security retirement or disability benefit. But don't try to take it sooner than age 66, or you will lock in a permanent reduction for your own retirement benefit, even if you take it later. .To help older Americans withstand the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provide more adequate retirement benefits, The Senior Citizens League supports legislation that would provide a boost in Social Security benefits for all retirees, and would tie annual cost of living adjustments to a more representative seniors' consumer price index, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). To learn more about efforts to strengthen Social Security benefits, visit . .By U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) .According to the committee's report, AbbVie has raked in more than 0 billion in net revenue from those two drugs since 2013, which the committee said was "driven in large part by AbbVie executives' decision to repeatedly raise the prices of Humira and Imbruvica." The company's top executives pocketed 0 million in compensation during that span, "much of which was directly linked to revenue increases," the report said. .However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) refused to bring the bill up in the Senate for debate or a vote. As a result, Congressional leaders have been struggling over the past few weeks to come up with legislation to deal with those issues to help those Americans who have been hurt so badly by the virus and the horrible economy that has resulted. .Local Lion's Club. Local chapters may have programs to assist people with severe vision impairment, and some clubs run the Affordable Hearing Aid Project, which distributes three types of affordable hearing aids. To find contact details for your local chapter, visit: Lions Club Directory. .Last fall, as part of his deficit reduction plan, President Obama recommended charging a 30 percent surcharge on Part B premiums to new beneficiaries who purchase Medigap polices with "near first-dollar" coverage. But do Medigap supplements encourage the over use of services? According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about 20% of Medicare beneficiaries have a Medigap policy and they paid an average of 8 per month for premiums in 2010 (premiums vary significantly). People purchase the policies specifically to protect against the considerable costs that Medicare does not cover, and to help keep budgets in retirement years more predictable. They have modest incomes, but don't qualify for Medicaid. About 66% have incomes below ,000 and nearly 31% have incomes below ,000. .We will keep a close eye on the evolving discussions in the months ahead, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website. .A 2.5% COLA would boost an average monthly benefit of about ,500 by an additional ,000 over the next ten years through 2030. An emergency 2.5% COLA would boost a monthly ,500 benefit by an extra .50 (0 per year) in 2021, but it would grow to an extra .30 per month by the end of ten years. Another way to think about this, if retirees do not receive a 2.5% COLA, that would be like loosing ,000 in Social Security income over the next ten years.