State Legislatures Magazine 3 Strategies State Lawmakers Can Use To Check Executive Powers Magazine2021Despite the coronavirus emergency, The Senior Citizens League is continuing its fight for you to protect your Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits. We've had to make some adjustments in the way we carry on our work, but we have not, and will not stop our work on your behalf..Since 2009 the COLA was zero in 2010, 2011, and 2016, and only 0.3 percent in 201Since 2010, the COLA has averaged just 1.2 percent, compared to the prior decade, 2000 through 2009, when the COLA averaged 4 percent..On Monday evening, Senator John Cornyn told reporters that the Senate's bill would include major differences from the House version. He said: "We're going to start from scratch, really. It's helpful for us to have [House lawmakers] go first to see the kind of issues that come up and anticipate those in the Finance Committee markup. But I'm still pretty optimistic we'll get this done before Thanksgiving." … Continued
United Hospital CareersThe last time the Medicare Part A Trust Fund was forecast to become insolvent was in 200At the time, the Part A Trust Fund was forecast to become insolvent by 201Lucky for us that never happened - in 2017 at least. Congress enacted the 2010 Affordable Care Act which changed Medicare taxes in two ways. It added a 0.9% surtax to the amount of Medicare payroll taxes paid by high earning individuals with wages over 0,000. This was on top of the 1.45% that workers currently pay on their wages. A second provision affecting the more affluent, imposed a 3.8% tax on a portion of net investment income. Estates and trusts can also be subject to this tax.."People who have been receiving benefits for 12 years or longer have experienced an unprecedented series of extremely low cost-of-living adjustments," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. What's more those inflation adjustments do not account for rapidly rising Medicare Part B premiums that are increasing several times faster than the COLA. The situation is causing those with the lower Social Security benefits to see little growth in their net Social Security income after deduction of the Part B premium..This week, TSCL saw support grow for three bills in the House and one bill in the Senate. First, two new cosponsors signed on to the bipartisan CREATES Act of 2017, bringing the total up to nine. The new cosponsors are Representative Carol Shea-Porter and Representative Francis Rooney. If signed into law, the bill would increase competition in the prescription drug industry by encouraging generic and biosimilar drug manufacturers to introduce their products to the market more quickly. … Continued