Sell and buy "senior" housing. If your home is too big, too expensive, and your needs are changing, it may be wise to start shopping for a more efficient newer home. Use the balance of the remaining sales proceeds for investments or an annuity to provide retirement income. When looking at new homes, consider future transportation needs and ease of access to public transportation to stores, businesses, healthcare facilities, and other favorite places. Spend time learning about the new community and do your homework on property values. Have homes in the area recently been reassessed for local taxes, or will you pay taxes based on "pre- crash" real estate values? How far is the new home from your kids and family? If you develop health issues, what type of medical care is available, including home care workers?.Alexandria, VHow would Social Security recipients fix the Social Security Disability Insurance Program? The Senior Citizens League is providing recommendations to Congress this week taken from a national survey of close to 1,200 Americans age 60 and over. Participants overwhelmingly say that they won't support benefit cuts or switching to a more slowly growing cost–of–living adjustment..Flu vaccination has many benefits. It has been shown to reduce flu illnesses and also to reduce the risk of more serious flu outcomes that can result in hospitalization or even death in older people. Flu vaccination has been shown in several studies to reduce severity of illness in people who get vaccinated but still get sick..Social Security currently determines initial retirement benefits based on all earnings, even when individuals were working without legal authorization under stolen or fake Social Security numbers..Older Americans report that their household budgets jumped substantially last year despite the lack of growth in their Social Security benefits, according to a new survey by The Senior Citizens League. "The gap between benefit growth and retiree costs was particularly pronounced due to rising prices of the most essential items in retirees' budgets, - medical and food costs," says TSCL's Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, Mary Johnson. TSCL today sent a letter to Congressional leaders calling upon them to enact legislation that would provide a modest boost to Social Security benefits..Although the new tax law almost doubles the standard deduction, and increases the deduction for taxpayers over the age of 65, The Senior Citizens League still encourages older taxpayers to compile and check medical and other deductible expenses before automatically taking the new standard deduction. The Senior Citizens League is working for passage of legislation that would lower or eliminate the taxation Social Security benefits, and strengthen Social Security for all..This week, Members of Congress continued working on a stopgap funding bill to keep the federal government operating past October 1st. In addition, The Senior Citizens League announced its support for one new piece of legislation, and two key bills gained support..Dr. Redfield also told Congress this week that the CDC is developing a test that can check for seasonal influenza and COVID-19 infections at the same time..TSCL believes that more focus needs to be placed on benefit adequacy as people spend more years in retirement. TSCL supports measures to strengthen Social Security that would increase the taxable maximum, ensuring that high wage earners pay their fair share. In addition, TSCL believes more can be done to protect Medicare from fraud and wasteful duplication of tests and services.
