Congress is under intense pressure from numerous directions to get rising debt under control. The Congressional Budget Office further warned that growing interest costs on the debt would restrict our elected lawmakers ability to use tax and spending policies to respond to economic downturns or financial crises. And that in turn would increase the probably of a sudden fiscal crisis, in which the government would lose its ability to borrow at affordable rates..Berna Heyman, a retired librarian who has Wilson Disease testified how she was a victim of obscene price gouging. Her annual co-pay for the drug Syprine rose from 0 in 2013 to ,000 in 2014, with her drug plan paying over 0,000. When she and her doctor applied for Valeant pharmaceutical's patient assistance program, she was denied financial assistance from the manufacturer because she was on Medicare..My estimate is based on CPI data through March 2019 and projected through the third quarter of 2019, the quarter that the Social Security Administration will use to determine the COLA..Once lawmakers return from next week's holiday break, they will have just a few days to pass a continuing resolution to keep most of the federal government operating past December 7th. Should they fail to reach an agreement before then, part of the federal government will shut down like it did earlier this year. The Senior Citizens League is hopeful that lawmakers will act responsibly to keep the federal government fully funded so that essential programs like Social Security and Medicare can operate as smoothly as possible..Your Social Security benefits are affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision. It affects people who have worked in jobs covered by Social Security and other jobs in which Social Security taxes were not taken out of your pay - like some government jobs, or for employers in other countries. The good news is that the WEP does not apply to survivors benefits, and because your wife worked in a private sector job that was covered by Social Security, she's not affected by the Government Pension Offset - a similar provision that reduces spouses and survivor benefits..Plan your withdrawals to boost your Social Security benefits. While you want to allow your retirement savings to grow tax-deferred as long as you can, withdrawing money from an IRA earlier is sometimes to your advantage. Doing so may help you delay starting Social Security benefits, allowing your benefits to grow 8% for every year you wait after attaining age 66 and until age 70..Effective since 1977, the GPO prohibits retired spouses, widows, and widowers from receiving the full benefits based on his or her spouse's employment. The WEP was passed in 1983 and reduces the benefit of a retired or disabled worker who also receives a federal, state or local government annuity based on his or her earnings by up to 60 percent.."The Outlook for Major Federal Trust Funds: 2020 to 2030," Congressional Budget Office, September 2020..On Wednesday, Congressman Jimmy Duncan introduced the CPI for Seniors Act, and TSCL announced its support for it shortly thereafter. The bill, if signed into law, would mandate the formulation and publication of a new Consumer Price Index specifically for seniors with the purpose of establishing a more fair and accurate cost-of-living adjustment.

Blog In Memoriam New Mexico Senator John Pinto

As the law is phased in over the coming months and years, TSCL will monitor it closely, and our legislative team will advocate against the implementation of the provisions that will increase costs for beneficiaries. For updates on its movement, visit our website at SeniorsLeague.org or our new Facebook page at Facebook.com/SeniorsLeague.."The Underlying Causes Of Surprise Medical Bills," David Blumenthal and Shanoor Seervai, The Commonwealth Fund, April 26, 201"Surprise! Congress Takes Steps To Curb Unexpected Medical Bills," Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News, December 22, 2020, "Surprise Medical Bills Cost Americans Millions. Congress Finally Banned Most Of Them." Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-Katz, The New York Times, December 22, 2020..Retirees frequently say that their annual cost-of-living adjustment does not adequately keep pace with rising costs. To learn if this is the case, this study, now in its eleventh year, looks at 40 expenditures that are typical for people age 65 and up, comparing the growth in the prices of those goods and services, to the growth in COLAs. … Continued

Absentee And Early Voting

As we've said, lowering drug prices is a top goal of Democrats, including President Biden. Republicans have indicated they will not support that effort so the Democrats have to pass it with just their own members. With only the slimmest of majorities in both the House and Senate, the Democratic leadership has to try and keep all of their members on board..This is one of the many retirement questions for which there is no straightforward answer. Many financial advisors recommend delaying the start of Social Security until you are at least your full retirement age or better yet, to wait until age 70. At your full retirement age, you would be eligible for 100% of the benefit to which you are entitled. However, for every year you delay until age 70, your Social Security benefit will grow 8%. Your benefit at age 70 would be 32 percent higher than you would get at 6That's a return that's very hard to find these days..The revenues raised from the taxation of Social Security benefits are used to pay Social Security and Medicare benefits. In 2017, the Social Security trust fund received .9 billion of its 5.6 billion in revenues from the taxation of benefits and the Medicare trust fund received .2 billion of its 9.4 billion in revenues. … Continued

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