Consider this, 5 per month is about one quarter of the average ,523 per month Social Security benefit in 202About one third of those participating in our 2020 Senior Survey indicated they spent that much on their total healthcare costs. Another 31% said they spend more than ,000 a month on total healthcare costs - roughly two-thirds of the average Social Security benefit! These findings are particularly troubling considering that the Government Accountability Office estimated in 2019 that almost half of households with people aged 55 and older have no retirement savings or other form of pension outside of Social Security..This week, the Senate Finance Committee voted to advance the nomination of Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, one subcommittee held a hearing on strengthening the Social Security program, and The Senior Citizens League saw one key bill gain support..In response to Trump's orders, four Senators requested an estimate from the Social Security Administration about what the long-term effect on the viability of Social Security if the tax deferral is made permanent. Last week, the report was released..Keep retirement accounts invested in age appropriate choices.."Notch Babies are now at the age where they are more likely to have chronic health problems and require multiple prescriptions," says TSCL Chairman Larry Hyland. "They are finding it difficult to make their lower benefits cover rising Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs, let alone all their other rising costs. The time has come to settle this," Hyland says..On Thursday, the Ways and Means Committee held a long overdue hearing on the Social Security 2100 Act. The bill was introduced by Congressman John Larson in January of this year. A companion bill was introduced in the Senator by Senator Richard Blumenthal. If adopted these bills would strengthen and reform Social Security by providing beneficiaries with a 2 percent benefit increase, would base the cost-of-living on the CPI-E, create a new minimum benefit set 125 percent of the poverty line and cut taxes for beneficiaries. Increase costs to the program would be paid for my applying the payroll tax to income over 400,000 and gradually increase the payroll tax rate to 7.4 percent..Now, a new fight over the practice has emerged as Health groups and consumer advocates are mounting a lobbying campaign to shape forthcoming federal rules around the ban. These are the same health groups that fought bitterly during the law's drafting about who would pick up the costs they could no longer bill to patients..And overwhelming majority 95% of those polled said YES! Amnesty by Executive Order is presidential over-reach. Changes in immigration law should be left up to Congress..The survey found that a person receiving the national average Social Security benefit in 2000 - 6 per month - would have ,193.10 per month by 201However, because retiree costs are rising at a substantially faster pace than the COLA, that individual would require Social 0.30 more per month, or ,603.40 in 2018, just to maintain his or her 2000 level of buying power.
