News

Senate Confirms New CMS Administrator.Coronavirus may derail Senate plans for other legislation.This week, lawmakers remained in their home states and districts to finish the two-week spring recess..According to an analysis performed for TSCL, monthly benefits between 2009 and 2016 are 13% lower than they would have been if inflation had been closer to the more typical 3%. For the typical retiree with an average monthly benefit of ,117 in 2009, Social Security benefits are about 9 per month lower this year, according to the analysis. The analysis calculated that, since 2009, people with average Social Security benefits have lost ,575 in total Social Security income over the past 7 years..Social Security Notch Reform Working towards benefit equality for older Americans..One of my bills would also increase insurance options for older Americans who are not yet age 6While the Affordable Care Act has greatly expanded insurance coverage, and limited insurers' ability to charge older Americans higher premiums, we can do a lot more to increase options and affordability. My Medicare-X Choice Act would expand on the Medicare framework to create a new public insurance plan for people of all ages..When Congress enacted automatic Social Security COLAs in 1972, there was only one CPI and it measured the inflation experienced by urban wage earners and clerical workers. The 1972 amendments used this CPI as the basis for determining your COLA today. But today there are other, more appropriate indexes for calculating the COLA. In 1978 the Bureau of Labor Statistics expanded the CPI known as the CPI-U to cover all urban residents, including most retirees, and in 1983 the BLS launched an experimental index, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, which reflects the spending patterns of people age 62 and older..Private insurance executive Peter Edwards, at a recent roundtable with the Senate Finance Committee, presented another option. Edwards, who is the President of Provider Development at Humana, suggested a flexible arrangement that offers a variety of payment models for differing practices and geographic regions. He advised the Senate Committee against a one-size-fits-all approach, warning that such approaches would undermine any existing collaborations..American consumers have waited too long for Congress to finally make bipartisan progress on lowering prescription drug costs. At a time of rampant hyper-partisanship on Capitol Hill, I've seen glimmers of hope for how lawmakers from across the political spectrum can unite on this issue. We can't stop pushing for lower prices, because our nation's seniors deserve that level of respect, commitment, and urgency.