Interactive Seniors In PovertyOn Friday, lawmakers in the House and Senate prepared to return to their home states and districts for a week-long recess. They are scheduled to be back in Washington on Monday, May 7th. In the meantime, many Members of Congress will be attending local events and hosting town hall meetings..In September of last year Sen. Joni Ernst talked about the need to go "behind closed doors" to reform Social Security, presumably because the American public won't stand for it being done in the open. There was more a year earlier from Majority Leader McConnell when he labeled Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid - so-called entitlements - "the real drivers of the debt" and called for them to be adjusted "to the demographics of the future.".The President describe this last order as the "granddaddy" of the four orders, but he also promised to drop the plan if the drug companies can come up with a better one within the next month. … Continued
Health Reform Perspective Pulling It Together Perspectives On State HealthThis week, the Social Security Administration announced that benefits will increase by 2% percent beginning in January 201In addition, The Senior Citizens League announced its support for one new bill that would improve the integrity of the Social Security program..Benefits are based on lifetime earnings. To be qualified for retirement benefits, workers need about 10 years of earnings. The earnings are indexed to account for changes in average wages since the year the earnings were received. Then SSA calculates the average indexed monthly earnings using the 35 years of highest earnings. A formula is applied to this amount to arrive at the basic benefit..What you can do: Members of Congress are more likely to re-think voting for legislation when they see a large number of seniors are adamantly opposed to cutting COLAs. Add your name to TSCL's Social Security Fairness Petition. Have your costs jumped this year? Send us an email telling us your story. … Continued