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Caregiver support: You and others helping with your mom can get caregiver training and information about respite care..TSCL encourages all readers concerned about the future of their Social Security and Medicare benefits to Contact your Member of Congress. Let's tell Congress not to pay Social Security based on unauthorized work! Work under invalid and fraudulent Social Security numbers should be invalid for entitlement to Social Security benefits. To learn more, track bills that are in congress..A person receiving the national average Social Security benefit in 2000 - 6 per month - would have ,226.60 per month by 201However, because retiree costs are rising at a substantially faster pace than the COLA, that individual would require a Social Security benefit of 7.90 more per month, or ,634.50 in 2019, just to maintain his or her 2000 level of buying power..Medicare Advantage plans merit a serious look, but you need to understand the pros and cons to determine the best fit for your budget without sacrificing insurance protection. The costly trade - offs to lower Medicare Advantage premiums often don't start showing up until you get sicker or need hospitalization. Some key considerations:.Seventy-eight percent of participants in TSCL's 2019 Senior Survey think Congress should establish an out-of-pocket spending cap. In December of last year, prescription drug legislation, H.R.3, the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act was passed by the House. In addition to allowing Medicare to negotiate drug costs, the House bill would cap Part D's annual out - of - pocket costs for prescription drugs, starting at ,000 per year..Senate Aging Committee Discusses Alzheimer's Disease.The IRS is warning retirees to get an idea of how much income tax you may owe for 2018, and determine whether you need to make an estimated payment by January 15th, 201Recent changes to the tax law lowered individual rates and tax brackets slightly. The standard deduction almost doubled from ,350 to ,000, and single taxpayers older than 65 can deduct an additional ,600. On the other hand, personal exemptions have been eliminated. Tax advisors say that on average, most retirees will likely see a decrease in the taxes they owe, but individual circumstances vary greatly..Pay off an existing mortgage. When you make additional principal payments on an outstanding mortgage balance, the lower balance will save you interest expense. If you have an amortized fixed-rate mortgage, the monthly amount of the payment doesn't change. With the additional principal payments the loan balance declines and more of your monthly payment goes toward the repayment of principal. You will repay the loan faster than the stated loan term on your contract. You can find mortgage calculators online, to help you determine how extra principal payments reduce your mortgage interest expense and the remaining loan term. When considering pre-paying your mortgage, consider the rates of return. If you were to save the extra cash in a savings account or CD, your rate of return currently is quite low and prepaying your mortgage may give you a better return based on the interest rate of your loan. Financial advisors, however, generally recommend that you pay off your mortgage out of income, and not cash from your retirement accounts. Your retirement accounts provide you with a savings cushion, that most seniors will need later in retirement, and they are protected from creditors..If the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment were based on a more accurate measure of inflation for seniors, beneficiaries would not be receiving a record-low 0.3% increase this year. They would be receiving an increase of 2.1% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Do you support legislation that would base the COLA on a more accurate inflation index like the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly?