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    Some Members of Congress question whether the federal government would replace borrowing for Defense with borrowing for Medicare. Democratic Rep. Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) said the savings from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would "offer a unique and limited opportunity to resolve this problem that grows every month." Other legislators warn, however, that it is misleading to think that these savings could be used as a "doc fix" offset. .Often, consumers don't even know they signed such an agreement because the clauses are buried in the fine print. .These attacks on the safety and security of seniors in our communities are unacceptable but, unfortunately, they aren't new. Before the pandemic, scams targeting the elders in our community were already on the rise. At a town hall I held in Los Angeles in early 2018, I heard multiple stories from relatives of seniors in our community who had been targeted by scams. … Continued

  • Category Legislative News Page 59

    Big bills for uncovered charges are surprising some seniors after some hospital stays that aren't considered inpatient services by Medicare. The problem occurs when the hospital classifies your stay as "observation" which is billed as outpatient care under Part B, rather than inpatient care which is billed under Part A. Your physician may order your admission as an inpatient, but in some cases the hospital later reverses the status retroactively. Whether you are an inpatient or an outpatient is extremely important, though, because it will determine how much you pay out-of-pocket, especially if you later need nursing home care. .As we continue dealing with the Covid 19 pandemic, TSCL remains constant in our fight for you to protect your Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits. We've had to make some adjustments in the way we carry on our work, but we have not, and will not stop our work on your behalf. .Within two years of enactment, the Government Accountability Office would report to Congress and the task force on the financial exploitation of older Americans, including the associated economic costs, contributing factors, unreported cases, and policy responses. … Continued

However, there might be other ways to augment finances, particularly through an additional tax exemption and the Child Tax Credit. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 expands the Child Tax Credit for tax year 2021 in the following ways: .Two cosponsors – Rep. Doris Matsui (CA-5) and Sen. Dean Heller (NV) – signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 1332, S. 2010) this week, bringing the totals up to 166 in the House and 13 in the Senate. ."Social Security benefits have flat - lined since 2010," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security policy analyst and author of TSCL's buying power study. "That was the first time since the annual COLA became automatic that inflation was too low for a COLA to be payable," Johnson notes. Since then, COLAs have averaged just 1.2 percent per year, less than half the 3 percent that COLAs averaged during the decade prior to 2010. ."The vast majority of prescription drugs [in the U.S.] are for generic, and there, the U.S. does pretty well," says Andrew Mulcahy, PhD, a senior policy researcher at RAND and the lead author of the report. "But for brand-name drugs, we pay much higher." .In the meantime, TSCL will be keeping a close eye on the budget negotiations since they will impact the funding of the Social Security and Medicare programs. We will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website, and on our Twitter page. .Social Security beneficiaries received a 2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) this year, but most have seen their benefit increases completely offset by higher Medicare Part B premiums. Do you support legislation that would give older Americans a more fair and adequate Social Security COLA? .To learn more about the problems of disability listen to the NPR story "Unfit for Work" The startling rise of disability in America. .To make the Social Security program fairer, The Senior Citizens League is advocating for legislation that would give beneficiaries a more adequate annual COLA. Under current law, the COLA is based on the spending patterns of young, working Americans. It fails to capture the true inflation seniors experience since it does not include major expenses like rising Medicare premiums. The bipartisan CPI-E Act (H.R. 1251) would base the COLA on the spending patterns of older Americans, and it's a change that is backed by 81 percent of The Senior Citizens League's supporters according to the results of our 2018 Senior Survey. .Sources: "Immigration Activists Urge Obama To Act Boldly", Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press, April 15, 201Letter to Senator Marco Rubio from Stephen C. Goss, Chief Actuary, Social Security Administration, June 28, 2013.