News

  • November 2012 Pharmacy Choice

    In April, TSCL's staff trekked up to Capitol Hill to hand-deliver hundreds of thousands of petitions to each Congressional office. The petitions were delivered along with a cover letter from Larry Hyland, Chairman of TSCL's Board of Trustees, who encouraged Members to support key bills. He wrote: "Your constituents listed in the following pages are active and informed, and these represent some of the issues that matter the most to them. Each of these bills would go a long way in protecting and defending the earned benefits of senior citizens." .Bloomberg News reports that the legislation would establish a task force on older investors at the Securities and Exchange Commission. This Senior Investor Taskforce would be required to identify challenges such as the financial exploitation and cognitive decline of investors older than 65, and to consider whether rules issued by the SEC or securities self-regulatory organizations should be changed to benefit them. .If adopted, H.R. 1170 would strengthen and expand the Social Security program by providing beneficiaries with a monthly benefit boost, basing cost-of-living adjustments on the CPI-E, and setting the Special Minimum Benefit at 125 percent of the poverty line. It would also apply the payroll tax to all income – including investment income – over 0,000. … Continued

  • Legislative Update For The Week Ending October 21 2011

    Most Americans contribute 6.2 percent of every paycheck to Social Security, but due to the taxable maximum wage cap, people earning more than 8,500 pay nothing over that amount. Do you support increasing or eliminating the taxable maximum wage limit to make the program more solvent? .How Much Should You Spend on Vet Care for Your Pets? .Before Obamacare "Glitch," There Was The Notch Glitch … Continued

Sources: "Issues and Challenges In Measuring And Improving The Quality Of Health Care," The Congressional Budget Office, December 201"What Is Value-Based Healthcare?" NEJM Catalyst, January 1, 201"After Single Payer Failed, Vermont Embarks On A Big Health Care Experiment," Carolyn Johnson, The Washington Post, September 17, 2017. .A number of vaccines, including those for flu and pneumonia, might be capable of improving immunity overall, according to one researcher. Scientists are looking at several other potential candidates, including vaccines against herpes viruses and tuberculosis. .Common sense suggests that the slowdown in rising Medicare costs is unlikely to last long. Medicare spending results for two main reasons: .Congress recognized that benefits would be lower under the new benefit formula provided by the 1977 law changes, but they sought to address the problem of abrupt benefit cuts for those nearing retirement (3). Congress provided a "transitional benefit formula" to phase in the changes for those who would become eligible for Social Security within the first five years of the changeoverЧthose born from 1917 through 192This group of retirees had their benefit calculated two waysЧunder the new benefit formula and under the transitional benefit formula and they received the higher of the two benefits. According to a comprehensive economic analysis by noted economist John Haldi, Ph.D., the transitional benefit formula, however, had significant flaws and in almost every case failed to provide any benefit protection (4). Thus, benefits were sharply and rapidly reduced. .For example, the CMF report offers suggestions on how House member offices can most effectively absorb additional cuts. Most notably, these include salary freezes, a potential shift to increased e-mail use over traditional mail, and limited travel expenses to district functions. .Two Social Security Reforms That Seniors Strongly Support .SSA Rescinds New Online Security Policy .Sources: "Preliminary Estimate of the Budgetary Effects of Using the Chained CPI Starting in 2014," Congressional Budget Office, March 1, 2013. .TSCL's all-volunteer Board of Trustees and legislative team – including former Congressman David Funderburk and Mrs. Betty Funderburk – look forward to working with both new and veteran lawmakers on the issues that are important to senior citizens, like those mentioned above. We will work tirelessly in the 113th Congress to ensure that seniors receive the retirement security they have earned and deserve.