News

  • Legislative Update Week Ending January 23 2015

    For details, or to see if your Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings during the summer recess, call their local offices. You can find contact information HERE. For a list of ten sample town hall questions, click HERE. .(Washington, DC) – Seventy-eight percent of retirees think Congress should cap what Medicare beneficiaries must spend out-of-pocket on prescription drugs, according to new survey by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). Unlike other types of insurance, Medicare Part D has no annual out-of-pocket maximum. This leaves the sickest retirees spending hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars in pharmacy costs for prescription medications every year. .The Senate has been back in session for a few weeks and has held votes on some legislation but what we at TSCL are watching is what's been happening in both the Senate and House committees that deal with legislation of major concern to seniors. … Continued

  • S 731 Social Security Expansion Act

    Apply for Extra Help. Extra Help is the Medicare program for low-income seniors that can help with most or all of the cost of your drug plan premium, deductibles and co-pays. You also get valuable coverage in the Part D coverage gap. If you qualify, you would pay between $ for each drug. Apply even if you aren't sure, because the income requirements are not as stringent as those for State Pharmacy assistance programs. .The Senior Citizens League agrees that the Social Security 2100 Act is a fair and responsible solution to the financing challenges facing the program, and we are proud to have endorsed the it. In the months ahead, we will advocate for its passage tirelessly, and we hope to see it signed into law before the end of this year. .The other rule concerns drug rebates involving Medicare Part D. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said that last year Part D rebates totaled .8 billion, representing an average discount of nearly 30% for brand drugs. … Continued

Here are four ways to help you get more from your homeowners coverage: .Generations have watched big-government, socialist systems fail, one after another, in countries experimenting with soviet-style, centralized planning. Medicare-for-all would be no different, leading to longer wait times and lowered standards of care at an unsustainable cost to the American taxpayer. .Here are some examples of scams being tried. .While others want to privatize and dismantle Social Security, I'm fighting to honor our commitments to retirees and fix a broken system. .Legislation before the House and Senate would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) so that public servants receive the Social Security benefits they have earned and deserve. Will you cosponsor the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 521, H.R. 141) when you return to Washington? .These bills would enable retired school teachers, university employees and thousands of civil servants to receive all of the Social Security pensions for which they are entitled. A Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) have long limited the full aid that these beneficiaries merit. .TSCL will be keeping a close eye on the budget discussions in the weeks ahead since a government shutdown could impact the Social Security and Medicare programs negatively. We will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website, or over on our Facebook page. .For Medicare Advantage enrollees whose physicians are dropped, this means one of three things. They will either have to scramble to find a new doctor, pay more to see their out-of-network doctor, or switch to a Medicare Advantage plan with a better network of providers. Seniors who did not choose the third option last fall will have to wait until October – the start of Medicare's open enrollment period – to find a new plan. .By Representative Alan Nunnelee (MS-1)