News

  • Legislative Update For Week Ending August 2 2013

    COLAs Reach All Time Lows At Same Time Seniors Report Expenses Higher Than Ever .Susan's son Andrew requires an expensive anti-convulsive medication, Depakote Sprinkles. None of his Part D plan choices covers the brand drug — which can cost ,099 a year retail — only the generic version. But for Andrew, the generic doesn't work, and he has suffered seizures while using it. Susan learned, however, from Advisor editor Mary Johnson, that because Andrew receives Medicare Extra Help, his doctor can ask his drug plan for a coverage exception. Since starting Medicare, Andrew has received coverage for Depakote in each of his Part D plan choices. .On Thursday, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction held their second public hearing, which focused on revenue options and reforming the tax code. The Committee heard testimony from Thomas Barthold, Chief of Staff of the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxations. … Continued

  • Legislative Update Week Ending November 28 2014

    So, before these invaluable vaccines hit the market, we should talk about an actual price. Otherwise, we will be stuck paying dearly for shots that the rest of the world will get for much less. .Low and middle-income earners pay taxes on all of their earnings. In recent years, however, the share of total wages earned in the U.S. and subject to Social Security payroll tax has declined because the earnings of the most highly paid workers have grown rapidly. Most of the proposals to increase the taxable maximum would also raise benefits of the affected workers by counting earnings above the old cap in the benefit formula. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that eliminating the taxable maximum would extend the Social Security solvency as much as 50 years.[1] .A report conducted by the Congressional Management Foundation claims that this year's budget will force House member offices to trim an additional 90,000 dollars in each office. A reduction to staff positions could mean decreased constituent services as responsibilities are shifted. … Continued

On Thursday, lawmakers in the House and Senate advanced a two-week stopgap measure to keep the federal government operating past Friday, December 7th. President Trump had not yet signed it into law at the time of writing this week's legislative update, but he is expected to do so before the midnight deadline. As a result, lawmakers have an extra fourteen days to reach a deal to avoid another government shutdown on December 21st. .Diversify if you can. If you have the savings, it might be wise to spread your investment between two companies or consider having a portion of yours savings in fixed annuity and a portion in a variable annuity. .But a COVID-19 vaccine will have an actual price tag. And given the prevailing business-centric model of American drug pricing, it could well be budget breaking, perhaps making it unavailable to many. .The Obama administration recently proposed new regulations to deny Medicare to illegal immigrants and remove them from Medicare rolls. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are proposing U.S. citizenship or lawful presence in the United States as a new requirement for getting Medicare. .Congressional inaction on the debt ceiling is a growing concern of TSCL's for several reasons. If a default on the federal debt occurs, Social Security benefits would likely be delayed, and millions of seniors living on fixed incomes would suffer financially. In addition, doctors who treat Medicare patients would likely see postponements in their reimbursements from the federal government, and access to quality medical care would be jeopardized for beneficiaries. .What sort of income will your resources generate? Will the income generated by your retirement savings be enough to cover the loss of income, expenses, and taxes if any, if you die? .The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is provided to protect the buying power of Social Security benefits from rising prices. Yet for almost a decade, retirees have had to manage their household budgets despite COLAs that have been at unprecedented lows. During this period, typical retiree costs have continued to rise several times faster than overall inflation and, consequently, Social Security benefits have lost one-third of their buying power since 2000. .Obama's new policy for illegal immigrants was recently announced and implemented without Congressional approval. Now questions are growing about the potential for widespread fraud — and with good reason, it seems. Less than two months after the government announced some 800,000 illegal immigrants would qualify for work authorization under the program, immigration policy analysts now say that more than twice that number, nearly 1.8 million, will qualify. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security appears to be accepting a surprisingly wide variety of evidence and supporting documents from applicants, hoping to prove that they qualify to stay in the U.S. and for temporary work authorization. .TSCL is hopeful that lawmakers will successfully repeal and replace the SGR by the end of this year since doing so would bring increased stability to the Medicare program for both doctors and patients. However, we are opposed to offsets that would reduce Medicare benefits or require seniors to pay more for their health care, and we firmly believe that beneficiaries should not be penalized for the poor policy-making decisions that were made by Congress more than a decade ago.