New Legislation Aimed At Fixing Social Security and Medicare.TREA Senior Citizens League was formed in 1993 to protect "earned" Social Security and Medicare benefits. Many TSCL members are affected by the Notch, and rank Notch Reform as their top legislative priority. TSCL is the only national senior citizens action organization to continue to lobby for Notch Reform. To date, TSCL has 1.3 million members and supporters who participate in a number of grassroots lobbying and public education campaigns..This week, Members of Congress continued working on a .1 trillion spending bill to fund the federal government past December 11th. Lawmakers in the Senate passed a five-day continuing resolution on Thursday afternoon to buy more time for the negotiations. At the time of writing this week's update, those in the House had not yet passed the stopgap funding bill, but they are expected to overwhelmingly vote in its favor before midnight on December 11th, and President Obama has already said he will sign the short-term fix into law..If you're like most Medicare beneficiaries, you rarely make changes to your health or drug plans, but this is one of the biggest financial mistakes you can make in retirement. Insurers make numerous changes to drug and health plans that increase your out–of–pocket costs every year. Your health changes, and the plans that once were your best deal, may be full of high cost surprises now. Every year new plans, even new plans offered by your current insurer, compete for your business by offering similar or better coverage, for lower costs. Comparing your Medicare plan coverage every year and making changes when it's in your best interest, is one of the most important financial habits to get into.."In the event that you have the choice to get vaccinated, I'd encourage you to take the vaccine that you're given," John Brooks, the chief medical officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Covid-19 response, said at a briefing Friday.".The hold harmless provision kicks in when the dollar amount of an individual's Medicare Part B premium rises more than the dollar amount of an individual's COLA adjustment to prevent a reduction in Social Security benefits. The provision applies to individuals with incomes below ,000, and whose Medicare Part B premium is automatically deducted from their Social Security benefits. Johnson estimates that about 35.5 million Social Security recipients were held harmless in 2016 and 201"People who have been held harmless in both those years are paying premiums that are roughly 8 per month in 2017 on average, a difference of about from the current 4 premium. However, for many of those people, especially those with below - average Social Security benefits, the 2018 COLA won't be high enough to cover the full 4 Part B premium..Attention deficit disorder is not just a condition affecting kids - it's often triggered by aging. When I was younger, my mother used to discover her eyeglasses in the fridge, but not too long ago I found mine there. Recently I attended a "Science of Willpower" workshop offered by our local Osher School of Lifelong Learning in Charlottesville, Virginia. There, I learned about the new epidemic of "age activated attention disorder" and received some good advice for helping us "hold that thought." Here's how the condition is described:.This week, one new cosponsor Rep. Glenn Thompson signed on to the Preventing and Reducing Improper Medicare and Medicaid Expenditures Act, bringing the total up to forty-nine. If signed into law, the PRIME Act would take a number of steps to comprehensively prevent fraud, waste, and abuse within the two programs a problem that TSCL believes must be addressed in order to ensure that scarce program dollars are being spent properly..Unlicensed loan offers through the mail, via telephone, or door-to-door. "Auto payments of per month! Interest rates as low as 2.4 APR! Keys to the door of your next car!" It's not unusual to find auto loan offers in your mailbox, but beware. Make sure any lender you work with is legitimate, and licensed.

Legislative Staff Coordinating Committee 2020 Legislative Staff Achievement Award Recipients

Guide dogs or other service animals to assist a blind or physically disabled person..The retirement pensions of most average Americans, however, have not received the same level of dedicated protection from our elected lawmakers over the years. In 1977, Congress enacted changes to the Social Security benefit formula that cut benefits for persons who first became eligible to retire just two years later. Because of flaws in the transition and unexpectedly high inflation during the period, benefit reductions were even greater than anticipated. Seniors born from 1917 through 1926, known as Notch Babies, receive lower benefits than other seniors with similar work and earnings records. According to studies for TSCL, Notch Babies' benefits are ,000 to ,000 per year lower, on average, than those of other retirees with similar work and earnings records..But not all beneficiaries are protected by the hold harmless provision. The provision covers about three-quarters of beneficiaries who would not see any change in their basic Part B premiums in 2010, according to the Actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But one quarter of beneficiaries would face reductions to their monthly Social Security checks as money is deducted to cover the increased Part B premium costs. And although the "hold harmless" provision provides protection from the rising Part B premiums, that provision of law does not apply at all to Part D drug coverage or Part C Medicare Advantage plan premiums. If a person's Part D or Medicare Advantage plan premium goes up, he or she would have less Social Security to live on in 20An emergency COLA, however would offset those costs and prevent those reductions. … Continued

Blog Voters Contemplate Options On Health Ballot Issues

TSCL is working with Members of Congress for the "Guaranteed 3% COLA for Seniors Act, introduced by Representative Eliot Engel. The bill directs the Bureau of Labor Statistics to prepare and publish a monthly CPI-E and uses it to calculate the annual Social Security COLA. And in the case when inflation is low, the bill would provide an annual COLA of at least 3%..Medicare has been subject to automatic 2 percent spending cuts since 2014, enacted as a provision of the Budget Control Act of 201Providers continue to bill Medicare in the normal way, but they are only paid 98 cents on the dollar. According to a FAQ from the House Committee on the Budget, the Medicare spending cut for the government's fiscal year 2021 which starts October 1, 2020, will reduce spending by .2 billion..For information about town hall meetings near you during the spring recess, call the local offices of your elected officials. You can find contact information for your Members of Congress right here. … Continued

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