News

The President's order halts the collection of Payroll taxes from Sept. 1 through the end of the year. In addition, he instructed the Treasury Department to look into how the government can forgive the deferred tax payment permanently because as things stand right now the taxes must be repaid after the first of the year..A survey by The Senior Citizens League indicates that Social Security benefits have lost more than one-third of their purchasing power over the past decade. Do you support calculating the COLA using an index that more accurately measures seniors' cost of living?.facility, or nursing home, long-term care is very expensive. Nursing home care.TSCL is especially concerned about how seniors and their families would be informed about the change of health plans. Dual eligible seniors are more likely to have cognitive challenges, and their family caregivers may not understand that a transition to a new health plan is taking place, or how to navigate the changes. TSCL is particularly concerned that seniors may not be able to keep their former doctors and other healthcare providers if those providers don't participate under the new plans. If so, this raises the potential for unintended and uncovered costs, if seniors unwittingly continue to see their former doctor or present the wrong health plan card when visiting providers..people who are still working and pay Medicare Part B by check,.If your company has less than 20 employees, you can sign up for Medicare now during the General Enrollment Period between January 1 March 31 each year. Your coverage will begin July 1, 2013..and puts the coverage of low-income older adults who receive Medicaid in jeopardy, including the majority of the nation's nursing home patients."."The 6.7 percent increase in the Part B premium is the largest since 2006 for a year in which a COLA is payable," Johnson says. There have been bigger jumps in Part B premiums as recently as 2016 and 2017, but those were two years in which there was no or almost no COLA paid. This situation can cause unusually high Part B premium spikes..TSCL is pleased that after more than a decade, lawmakers have finally passed legislation to repeal and replace the SGR once and for all. The SGR has not worked as it was intended to since 2003, and seventeen times it has called for steep physician pay cuts, threatening access to quality medical care for seniors. We are hopeful that the new system will bring increased stability to the Medicare program.