News

My Ex-Spouse Died. Would I Qualify For Widow's Benefits Even Though I'm Re-married?.TSCL's Take.On Friday, SSA announced that Social Security benefits will increase by 2% percent beginning in January 201While the 2018 cost-of-living adjustment is the largest increase in five years, it continues a trend of abnormally low benefit growth.."The government now finds itself trying to figure out how to satisfy patients who desperately need help, even though scientists think this particular treatment lacks strong evidence for its effectiveness and policy experts warn it is setting up a budgetary nightmare for Medicare in the future."." The new Obama Administration policy is opening Social Security to as many as 1.2 million non-citizens who won't even have legal status, " Hyland says. This is occurring at the same time Congress and the President are debating major reforms that would cut the Social Security and Medicare benefits of U.S. senior citizens who paid into the system the legal way," he adds. 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..Under current law the Social Security COLA is calculated based on the spending patterns of younger working adults using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. But older consumers spend a bigger portion of their household budgets on healthcare and housing, two categories that have been increasing more rapidly in recent years. "Medicare Part B premiums are the fastest growing cost most retirees will ever have," notes Johnson. "But those costs are not even surveyed under the CPI-W or reflected in today's COLA," she says..averages about ,350 per month. But even people who receive care at home spend.TSCL believes this offensive policy is long overdue for a change. Social Security provides monthly income to retirees and we believe retirees are entitled to every last dime, including benefits for the month in which they die. Payment for the final month is especially important as you point out because medical and funeral expenses can be significant..Representative C.W. Bill Young

Lafayette Charter School Receives School Health Connection Award

Spanberger Bill Aims to Shed Light on Prescription Drug Pricing.TSCL will continue to monitor this debate, and will work to educate Members of Congress about the potential for problems in funding benefits that could result from extending the payroll tax holiday. In the meantime, TSCL is also asking seniors to contact their Members of Congress and urge them to oppose extending the Social Security payroll tax cut..In 2017, the Social Security retirement and disability trust funds are due to receive an estimated billion in "interest payments" on those I.O.U.s. Because that money is not real cash, it must be borrowed, setting up a fractious debate in Congress - between those who say that benefits must be cut to make the program more sustainable, and others who say that Social Security payroll taxes are not equitable because the highest paid workers are not paying their fair share of taxes. … Continued

Redistricting Reallocating Incarcerated Persons For Redistricting

In March, TSCL delivered letters to several leaders in Congress including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows requesting their immediate action on the looming debt ceiling crisis. Art Cooper, the Chairman of TSCL's Board of Trustees, wrote: "Our supporters nation-wide hope you will act swiftly and responsibly to avert delays in Social Security benefits and payments to Medicare providers, and they will not tolerate additional cuts to their earned Social Security benefits.".The TSCL poll found seniors were closely split over the two other leading approaches to address the disability program's solvency. Forty-eight percent favored tightening Social Security's disability eligibility requirements and conducting more annual eligibility reviews to reduce fraud. Fifty-one percent favor requiring high wage earners to pay Social Security taxes on all of their incomes. "TSCL believes that the only way Congress will forge an agreement is through bipartisan efforts that use a combination of the two approaches," Cates states. What do you think about issues affecting seniors? Take a poll. Visit TSCL's website at..How far will your 2013 COLA go? What other options do we have to address Social Security's solvency? Take TSCL's 2013 Senior Survey! … Continued