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  • Category Issues Medicare Part B Page 5

    Finally, six new cosponsors signed on to the Social Security Fairness Act (S. 896 and H.R. 1795) this week, bringing the total up to ten in the Senate and eighty-three in the House. The cosponsors are: Sen. Brian Schatz (HI), and Reps. Adam Kinzinger (IL-16), John Duncan, Jr. (TN-2), Raul Ruiz (CA-36), Bill Foster (IL-11), and Randy Neugebauer (TX-19). If signed into law, the bill would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) – two provisions that unfairly reduce the earned Social Security benefits of millions of state and local government employees each year. .Ask about insurer discounts. When shopping, learn what the prospective insurer gives discounts for. Smoke detectors, burglar alarms and dead bolt locks can be worth a 5% premium discount. .This week, TSCL endorsed new legislation from Congressman John Duncan, Jr. (TN-2) that would result in a more fair and adequate Social Security COLA. The bipartisan bill, called the Consumer Price Index (CPI) For Seniors Act (H.R. 2016), would require the Bureau of Labor Statistics to create and publish a new inflation index based solely on the spending patterns of senior citizens. … Continued

  • Notch Bulletin June 2011 Advisor Feed

    He announced that he would meet with the drug companies to discuss his plan, but top company executives subsequently refused to meet with him. The drug companies did develop their own proposal but it was rejected by the President. .But a study of typical senior costs conducted by TSCL indicates that COLAs aren't doing a very good job of keeping up with rising prices now, primarily because the CPI isn't fully reflecting the portion of income that seniors must spend on rapidly rising healthcare costs. The study found that the Social Security benefits have lost 32 percent of their purchasing power since 2000. ."Social Security benefits simply are not adequate when people with a Social Security benefit of even as much as ,288 per month are at risk of having their entire COLA used to cover rising Part B premiums," says Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. "That is what happened in 2018, and that left nothing to cover all other rising household costs," Johnson explains. … Continued

You can find contact information HERE. In addition, you can find ten sample town hall questions HERE, in this month's issue of the Social Security and Medicare Advisor. .The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) will be monitoring CR discussions in the Senate in the coming hours and days, and we will post updates on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, we will continue to monitor ongoing budget discussions since they are expected to include plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. As was noted in a recent legislation update, repealing the law would impact the Medicare program in several ways. For instance, progress that has been made to close the prescription drug "doughnut hole" would be reversed, and the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund that finances Medicare Part A would lose an important stream of funding that the law created. The Trust Fund could face immediate depletion if eliminated. .Such logic would be disastrous if it were applied to a successful COVID vaccine. COVID-19 has shut down countless businesses, creating record-high unemployment. And the medical consequences of severe COVID-19 mean weeks of highly expensive intensive care. .Senate Subcommittee Considers Family Leave Proposal .But it turns out the Democrats are not quite as united as that statement makes it sound. Ten members recently sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressing concerns about the drug pricing legislation as written. .In addition, President Obama issued a veto threat earlier this week when he released a Statement of Administration Policy that read: "The Administration is committed to strengthening Medicare for those who depend on it and protection of the public's health. We believe this legislation fails to accomplish these goals." .New Co-Sponsors Added .Help! My Insulin Costs Skyrocketed. Health Plan Blames Covid-19! .Financial Management, Challenges in Meeting Requirements of the Improper Payments Information Act, GAO-05-417, March 200"Annual Statistical Survey 2004, Social Security Administration, Table 5.A.1.