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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..Benefits are based on lifetime earnings. To be qualified for retirement benefits, workers need about 10 years of earnings. The earnings are indexed to account for changes in average wages since the year the earnings were received. Then SSA calculates the average indexed monthly earnings using the 35 years of highest earnings. A formula is applied to this amount to arrive at the basic benefit..Even more surprising is what isn't showing up on the list - medical costs. The cost of medical care services still increased 2.5 times faster than the COLA, rising by 3.2 percent. That's nothing new. In many years medical costs have increased more rapidly than in 2020. Emergency coronavirus legislation last spring restricted what providers could charge for many COVID-19 related services, and large numbers of patients and their doctors postponed non-urgent care..Would it Be Advantageous for Me to Take a Divorced Spouse Benefit?.Medicare Part B premiums are getting set to make one of the biggest jumps in 14 years, according to new analysis from The Senior Citizens League. While the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment will increase benefits by 1.6 percent in 2020, Medicare Part B premiums are climbing by 6.7 percent, "more than four times faster than the COLA," says Medicare and Social Security policy analyst, Mary Johnson..I pour some water in the flowers, but some spills on the floor..According to the most recent Social Security Trustees report, Social Security already pays out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes. In 2019, Social Security paid ,047.9 billion in benefits versus receiving 4.5 billion in payroll tax revenues. Taxation of the benefits of retirees provides another .5 billion in revenues, and .8 billion is money from "interest" earned by the assets of the Social Security Trust funds, special non-marketable bonds. Social Security trustees forecast that the program will be depleted by 2035..The Senior Citizens League enthusiastically supports S. 974, and we will continue to advocate for its passage on Capitol Hill in the months ahead. For more information about this bill and others that have been backed by The Senior Citizens League, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. For frequent progress updates, follow TSCL on Twitter..Those members up for re-election would have used the recesses for campaigning, but campaigning has also been totally changed because of the pandemic. It is likely we will see even more campaign ads on TV this fall but who knows? There is no playbook for these circumstances, and everyone is still trying to figure it out.

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According to a report in BGov News, "… younger seniors have shown a greater appetite for vaccines than their older peers. Initially, the opposite was true, as governments sent inoculation teams into nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. Recently, the numbers have flipped, adding support to the idea that some elderly residents -- especially those outside structured-living arrangements -- are simply having trouble navigating the system."."When family caregivers don't get the support they need, and few get enough, they are faced with leaving their jobs, taking on significant debt, or moving their loved ones out of their homes and into costly assisted living facilities," Cates notes. TSCL believes this growing problem must be addressed to enable older and disabled Americans to live with dignity in their homes and communities. TSCL encourages the public to contact Members of Congress and ask elected lawmakers to support the Credit For Caring Act. To learn, more visit..Yes, unfortunately this is correct. Under current law Social Security benefits are not payable for the month in which a beneficiary dies. This is so even when the beneficiary, like your husband, passes away on the last day of the month. However, according to the Social Security Administration the check that an individual receives in a given month is the payment for the preceding month. That means the check that your husband received during the month of March was his benefit for February, which you would be entitled to keep. It is the March payment that you would have received in April, and any thereafter that must be returned. … Continued

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Social Security benefits are one of the few types of retirement income to be automatically adjusted annually for inflation. In 2020, more than 61 million Social Security recipients received a 1.6 percent annual COLA, which raised the average ,460 benefit by .40 per month.."Given that conditions like Alzheimer's disease are defined mainly by memory problems, our results may lead to further insight into what causes symptoms and the development of new interventions for prevention. Since silent strokes and the volume of the hippocampus appeared to be associated with memory loss separately in our study, our results also support stroke prevention as a means for staving off memory problems," said Brickman..Statement of Martin H. Gerry, Social Security Administration, Before Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Committee on Ways and Means, March 2, 200Individuals Who Are Not Authorized To Work In The United States Were Paid .2 Billion In Refundable Credits, Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration, July 7, 2011, 2011-41-06"Social Security Benefits For Noncitizens," Congressional Research Service, July 20, 2006, RL32004. … Continued