Although the bill applies to children, TSCL is concerned that the DREAM Act is a back-door approach to a much wider amnesty that would have an enormous impact on the financial solvency of Social Security and Medicare. Under current policy, immigrants who become U. S. citizens, as young people under the DREAM Act would, may file a petition for green cards to allow their immediate relatives to legally immigrate to the U.S. Relatives who qualify immediately for a visa are spouses, unmarried children under the age of 21, and parents. Once the parents receive the green cards they can legally apply for work authorization, and renew it annually..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..May 2007.Open Enrollment on the new health exchanges starts November 15 and will run for about one month. But even after a year of technical problems and significant repair efforts, the Government Accountability Office recently warned Congress that the federal exchange may continue to have more enrollment problems. Nevertheless, due to the high cost of insurance and potential tax repercussions, TSCL recommends that you start early and be persistent about finding your best plan..The low COLA announcement from the trustees comes just weeks after TSCL revealed the findings of its 2016 Survey of Senior Costs. The annual survey examined the cost increases of thirty-eight key items between 2000 and 2016, and it found that Social Security benefits have lost 23 percent of their purchasing power since 2000. During that sixteen-year period, the COLA rose by 36.3 percentage points, while typical senior expenses like housing, Medicare premiums, and prescription drugs jumped 75.3 percent. The findings of the survey are a clear sign that the COLA is growing too slowly, and that it's time to switch to a more accurate measure of inflation like the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers..As 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..Through 2012, annual COLA increases have been tied to the increase in the consumer price index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Deficit reduction plans would switch to a more slowly-growing CPI known as the "chained" CPI to determine COLAs. Traditional CPIs measure the increase in prices. But the chained CPI doesn't. It measures consumer spending when prices go up. For example if the price of beef goes up, it assumes people switch to less costly choices, like chicken. The chained CPI measures inflation as growing less slowly than traditional indexes..In the meantime, to comply with the new health law, people need to continue to maintain health insurance or pay a fine, because the individual mandate is still in place. And unless Congress acts to repeal Obamacare in its entirety, insurers will still be required to provide coverage despite pre-existing conditions. The big question remains, however, how millions of people will be able to afford Obabmacare coverage if no subsidies are available..With 1.2 million supporters, The Senior Citizens League is one of the nation's largest nonpartisan seniors groups. Its mission is to promote and assist members and supporters, to educate and alert senior citizens about their rights and freedoms as U.S. Citizens, and to protect and defend the benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. The Senior Citizens League is a proud affiliate of The Retired Enlisted Association. Visit for more information.
