Patient Education Preparing For LaborAccording to Johnson's calculations, the Social Security beneficiaries who are most likely will not to see an increase in their net monthly check are those with benefits below ,264 per month. These individuals will once again be subject to hold harmless in 201Their COLA will be completely offset by the Part B premiums, but their Social Security benefits will not be reduced. "The net result will be no growth in the benefit for the third year in a row," Johnson says. "And that leaves nothing to meet other rising costs, such as Medigap premiums, Part D premiums, out-of-pocket costs, or anything else," Johnson notes..That matters because there are two other legislative measures the Democrats want to pass before the end of this month: President Biden's infrastructure bill and a reconciliation bill. The reconciliation bill is what will set the parameters for funding the government for the next fiscal year..The Senior Citizens League believes Congress must address the loss of buying power by adopting the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act. If signed into law, H.R. 1251 would base the COLA on the more fair and adequate CPI-E. Currently, COLAs are based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners, and they fail to keep pace with the inflation experienced by older Americans since goods like gasoline and electronics are weighted more heavily than health care and housing costs. … Continued
Blog Redistricting And The LawAs anyone who was following the news last week knows, Congress failed to reach an agreement on a new coronavirus economic relief bill, so they went home. They have left it up to the leadership in both houses to try and come up with legislation that can pass both bodies, but no one sounds optimistic that will happen before they return in September..Fifty-six percent of participants in a national survey by The Senior Citizens League say they pay taxes on their Social Security benefits. "The tax on Social Security income takes new retirees by surprise," says TSCL Chairman Ed Cates. "This is one retirement expense that must be carefully planned for. The government today taxes the Social Security benefits of a majority of older adults, even people with very modest middle incomes," he notes..Could the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment be more fairly adjusted to provide a fixed annual dollar amount? If the dollar amount of the increase were to be based on middle income, then low- and middle-income beneficiaries would be on more equal footing, and higher income beneficiaries would not be hurt any worse than we typically are anyway like this year with a 1.3% COLA! … Continued