News

Finally, Rep. Rodney Davis's Social Security Fairness Act gained eight new cosponsors this week, bringing the total up to forty-six. They are: Reps. John Tierney, Joe Courtney, Julia Brownley, Aaron Schock, Peter Welch, James McGovern, Lois Capps, and Elijah Cummings. If signed into law, H.R. 1795 would repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision two provisions that unfairly reduce the earned Social Security benefits of millions of teachers, firefighters, peace officers, and other state or local government employees each year..The Congressional Budget Office recently reviewed a proposal that would boost the taxable amount of Social Security benefits, as one of the options for Congress to consider to reduce the federal deficit. The proposal, which the CBO has reviewed in prior versions of its Options to Reduce the Deficit, would tax Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits the same way that distributions from defined benefit pensions are taxed. This is expected to increase the taxable income of older Americans..Now, 18 years later, TSCL is hopeful that 2021 will be the year when Congress finally enacts legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. This change is supported by about 85% of participants in TSCL's Senior Surveys. In 2019, Congress came very close to passing such a bill. In 2019, the House passed legislation, that would have allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices, but was loathed by the pharmaceutical industry. It stalled in the Senate late in 2019 when Senate leadership refused to take up the bill..Medicare Advantage plans merit a serious look, but you need to understand the pros and cons to determine the best fit for your budget without sacrificing insurance protection. The costly trade - offs to lower Medicare Advantage premiums often don't start showing up until you get sicker or need hospitalization. Some key considerations:.This is from STAT News, a company that "delivers trusted and authoritative journalism about health, medicine, and the life sciences..The Congressional Budget Office recently released its fall economic and budget update which estimates that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare outlays will grow 12% over 2020, double the rate what was forecast in April. If that estimate proves to be the case, that suggests the Part B premium increase could be twice as high as the earlier forecast - about .40 per month..TSCL supports the "No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act" introduced by Representative Dana Rohrabacher which would ban the use of earnings for jobs worked while illegal to be used to determine entitlement..As always, TSCL will be working with members of Congress to ensure that the legislation we have been fighting for on behalf of TSCL supporters is introduced and then passed into law..As anyone who was following the news last week knows, Congress failed to reach an agreement on a new coronavirus economic relief bill, so they went home. They have left it up to the leadership in both houses to try and come up with legislation that can pass both bodies, but no one sounds optimistic that will happen before they return in September.