News

This week, TSCL endorsed the Social Security Fraud Prevention Act, sponsored by Congressman David Valadao. If signed into law, the bill would prevent instances of identity theft by removing or partially redacting Social Security numbers from government-issued documents..We are interested in hearing from our readers to learn what you think about the new Medicaid expansion. Are you benefiting from the new rules? Should there be tighter asset restrictions? Send us an email at [email protected] or pressured to sign papers. Is the salesman or dealer herding you into an office and telling you to sign now or lose your deal? That's a sure sign it's a deal worth missing..Social Security was never designed to be the sole source of retirement income. It replaces around 40 percent of the average earnings of its beneficiaries. Pensions and savings form the two other major streams of retirement income, but people who retire with all three sources of retirement income are rare. Even worse, recent research from the National Institute of Retirement Security found that more than 40% of older adults have no retirement income other than Social Security..The recent battle in Congress over lifting the debt limit contained mostly good news and some not so good news, for disabled and retired Americans. The legislation rolled back an unprecedented 52% spike in Medicare Part B premiums due to affect about 15.6 million Medicare recipients, and it prevented a 19% cut in Social Security Disability Insurance benefits due to occur later this year. But the legislation contained no Cost-of-Living Adjustment relief for 2016, and closed off one of the few claiming strategies that some Americans have to boost their Social Security payouts..Already Senate leaders are making in known that they won't get their work done on time again this year. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said he's ready to move ahead with fiscal 2021 spending bills. But he told his subcommittee chairmen the Senate isn't likely to pass those measures until after the election, in December. Lawmakers expect to pass another stop-gap to prevent a funding lapse in September..The Chairman rightly pointed out that Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and other online drug tracking systems can ensure that patients are only receiving the drugs they need. Senator Michael Bennet agreed that digital record keeping databases can help limit opioid prescriptions, and cited his new bill that would mandate electronic prescribing for all opioid medications prescribed to Medicare Part D beneficiaries..In one of our recent updates we said we hadn't heard anything new about the 0 drug discount card for seniors that President Trump had announced in September. The program ran into obstacles because of a number of issues, including how it was to be paid for and the fact that it could violate federal election laws as an attempt to buy votes using taxpayer money..Social Security Taxation Question Pushes Action on "Boost Bill" Into 2020