Blog Civil And Criminal Justice 3New claims must be filed online and, to reach telephone assistance, one has to have the patience to wade through tedious automated menus, which can have long 24 -hour waits for return calls. Local Social Security offices can be so packed that it's standing room only. All this is coming home to roost for people who have middle to low incomes, and who can't afford the fees of professional retirement advisors. Too many people retire too soon, leaving substantial amounts of retirement income behind. That makes it all the more difficult to maintain one's standard of living later on in retirement..This week, Members of the Senate voted to confirm Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, The Senior Citizens League saw two key bills gain support..While Congress was busy debating the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, the federal government hit the debt ceiling on March 15th. Since then, the Treasury Department has been using "extraordinary measures" like postponing contributions to retirement accounts for federal employees to buy time and prevent a default on federal debts, including the money that the U.S. Treasury owes to the Social Security Trust Fund. … Continued
Poll Finding Kff Health Tracking Poll Late February 2021The 2021 Part B increase comes at the same time beneficiaries are receiving one of the lowest COLAs ever paid. The annual inflation adjustment will increase the average Social Security benefit by only .00 per month. Because Medicare Part B premiums and out-of-pocket costs grow several times faster than the annual COLA, healthcare costs take a rapidly growing share of Social Security benefits in retirement. The situation can leave older households without adequate income and dwindling savings just a few years after retiring.."Given that conditions like Alzheimer's disease are defined mainly by memory problems, our results may lead to further insight into what causes symptoms and the development of new interventions for prevention. Since silent strokes and the volume of the hippocampus appeared to be associated with memory loss separately in our study, our results also support stroke prevention as a means for staving off memory problems," said Brickman..That means the trust fund reserves money that came out of your paychecks to finance your earned benefits would become unusable by the Social Security and Medicare programs. Here's how that could lead to benefit cuts… … Continued