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Each Agency on Aging provides a different list of services, but there are some basic services that are provided by nearly all. These include the following:.TSCL's review of the Totalization Agreement and related documents raises a number of significant questions. For example, no new estimates of the cost of the agreement to the Social Security Trust Fund were released to TSCL..Would a Higher Cost-of-Living-Adjustment in Social Security Make Me Ineligible for Medicaid?.Homeowners and renter's insurance: With severe weather-related disasters, homeowner's insurance is one of the top ten fastest rising senior costs. If you haven't done so recently, review your coverage and determine whether it's based on the current value of your home and realistic current replacement costs. Many policies have new deductibles for wind and hurricane damage based on a percentage of your home's value, so take care and look before being tempted to increase deductibles to lower premium costs. Do shop around with other highly rated insurers to see if you can lower your premiums..I'm single and I live alone. When I retire this year I will receive payments from a 401 and a traditional IRA of approximately ,000. My annual Social Security benefit will be around ,000. Will my Social Security benefit be subject to income tax even though I will not be working?.With it being such a contentious election year, Congress enacted legislation to limit that jump in Part B which could be made even worse because the COLAs of so many beneficiaries would not be high enough to cover the full amount of the increase..By: Jessie Gibbons, Legislative Analyst.Nearly 20% of participants in TSCL's Senior Survey say they spent ,100 or more out-of-pocket on prescription drugs in 201And, as we age, all of us face the grim potential that a new health problem could increase our spending on prescription drugs to this level. Doing nothing to lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries is not a good option..Their platform's Social Security plan closes by saying, "Our plan contrasts starkly with Donald Trump. He has referred to Social Security as a 'Ponzi scheme' and has called for privatizing it as well as increasing the retirement age."

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In addition, the legislation froze the income thresholds at which the higher premiums are triggered so more seniors will have to pay the higher premiums as incomes gradually grow over time. TSCL's Legislative Assistant, Mike Watson, estimates that "individual seniors who made between ,000 and ,000 in 2010 could be subjected to the 'means test' in 2019, because of the frozen income thresholds. In addition, if the income thresholds for the 'means test' were allowed to increase, they would rise to about 0,500 to 1,800 in 2019.".Second, one new cosponsor Representative Sean Patrick Maloney signed on to the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act, bringing the total up to twenty. This bill, if adopted, would reduce prescription drug prices for older Americans by requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower covered Medicare Part D drug prices on behalf of beneficiaries..The CPI-E Act, if signed into law, would amend the Social Security Act with regard to the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security and Medicare benefits. Currently, the COLA is based upon the spending patterns of young, urban workers, but this legislation would calculate the COLA based on the spending patterns of seniors. … Continued

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Until then, many Members of Congress will be holding town hall meetings to address the questions and concerns of their constituents. TSCL encourages its members and supporters to attend these town halls and to ask questions of their elected officials about important Social Security and Medicare issues, like the following four….The Senior Citizens League enthusiastically supports H.R. 1251, S. 1909, and H.R. 4704, and we will continue to advocate for their passage in the months ahead. For more information, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website..We should also ensure senior citizens are getting an accurate cost of living adjustment. The model the government is using right now would be fine if seniors were regularly buying iPods and laptop computers. But that's just not the case. I've proposed a better way to calculate the COLA based on items seniors actually use, such as food, housing, gasoline, healthcare and prescription drugs. … Continued