Apply for Medicare "Extra Help": Medicare Extra Help is a program that helps to pay for Part D premiums, annual deductibles, and co-payments for your medications. You apply online using the Social Security Administration website. For more information see this pdf from the Social Security Administration..TSCL believes that Congress should strengthen Social Security's protections by enacting legislation to prohibit the use of unauthorized earnings from being counted toward eligibility for Social Security benefits..While benefits scheduled in the law for OASI [Old Age and Survivors Insurance] and DI [Disability Insurance] are obligations, such obligations can only be met to the extent that asset reserves are available in the OASI and DI Trust Funds. The law does not provide authority for the trust funds to borrow in order to pay benefits beyond the limited authority for "advance tax transfers.".Proponents of Executive Action say it's unlikely that illegals would file a lot of claims for Social Security benefits. People need to work about ten years and meet age eligibility requirements to file a claim for retirement benefits, and most illegal immigrants are young. But the rules for disability benefits are different. Depending on age, young disabled workers could qualify for benefits with as little as 1.5 years of work history. And, under current policies, illegal immigrants who receive a work-authorized Social Security number can become entitled to benefits that could be calculated on earnings from prior work under invalid and fraudulent Social Security numbers..It would: require Medicare to negotiate lower Part D drug prices, allow individuals to import prescription drugs from Canada, require greater price transparency from drug manufacturers, accelerate the closing of the Part D "doughnut hole," restore drug rebates for low-income seniors, and put a 0 monthly cap on prescription drug spending for individuals. Together, these changes would dramatically reduce drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries. In the coming months, TSCL will continue to work towards its passage in Congress..Republicans, so far, have been unwilling to go along with any Democratic proposals although there is still bi-partisan work going on in the Senate to try and come up with legislation to lower drug prices..An insurance industry source said Congress' deliberations are "freaking out" companies who worry that seniors will drop their private plans en masse and migrate to traditional Medicare once the new benefits are in place. But the source said the industry is mindful of the optics of publicly opposing coverage of eyeglasses, dental care and hearing aids, and is largely lobbying behind the scenes..TSCL is highly concerned about the Totalization Agreement since it would likely add billions in costs to Social Security and drain Social Security benefits from American citizens who retire in the future. The Agreement would also increase exponentially the number of foreign workers claiming Social Security benefits. Social Security law currently allows non-citizens, who at some point obtain work authorization and a valid Social Security number, to claim benefits. Under current policy, Social Security uses all earnings regardless of a workers' legal status at the time the work was performed, to determine entitlement to benefits - including earnings while working illegally in the U.S. Such work could have been done while using an invalid or even fraudulent Social Security number. Several Members of Congress have introduced legislation that would prevent the Totalization Agreement from moving forward and that would give Congress more oversight over Totalization agreements with other nations. In addition, anti-Totalization legislation opposes Social Security benefits going to those who worked in the United States while illegal..The Social Security COLA was created to protect the purchasing power of Social Security benefits received by older and disabled Americans, but the results of this new study show that seniors are failing to keep up with rising costs. In recent years, inflation and COLAs have been at record low levels, averaging just 1.2 percent per year since 20In 2018, Social Security beneficiaries received a COLA of 2 percent, yet most saw no increase at all in their net benefits due to substantially higher Medicare Part B premiums.
