Social Security disability benefits are financed through the taxes paid by workers and their employers on earnings up to a cap of 7,000. Of the 6.2% that each pays, 0.9% goes to Disability Insurance and the rest goes to pay retirement and survivors benefits..Take a complete list of all your prescriptions, vitamins, and supplements with you on your next visit to the doctor. Note the dosage and the quantity you use monthly. Find out whether you still need to take them all, and if there's a less-expensive brand name or generic you can try before settling on new expensive brand meds..We will all know if they were able to reach and agreement and get their job done by the end of this coming Friday. However, President Trump's position on this is not clear. While Treasury Secretary Mnuchin has been in on the discussions of the legislation the President has not said where he stands..The income thresholds for the federal poverty levels are adjusted using a somewhat faster growing index than the one used to determine the COLA. Unlike the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, which does not survey the costs of people over the age of 62, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers CPI-U includes the spending patterns of both younger workers and people over the age of 6Consequently the federal poverty limits increase somewhat faster than the CPI-W and today's COLAs. The 2016 poverty levels reflect a 0.1% increase over 2015 rather than zero like the Social Security COLA..Lawmakers at this week's hearings on both sides of the aisle seemed committed to working together to stabilize the marketplace in the weeks ahead. In total, thirty-one Senators reached out to lawmakers on the HELP Committee to be included in the discussions, and the bipartisan group hopes to have a stabilization plan drafted by next week and signed into law by the end of September. For progress updates, follow TSCL on Facebook or Twitter..Nonetheless, this weekend the President said he will carry out his threat and veto the bill. It is not clear if all Republican members of Congress who voted for the bill will do so again and override Trump but there were large enough majorities in both houses that they could lose a few votes and still override..Legislation to help "Notch Victims" is Introduced.A recent report by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services has also found that high price drugs are affecting federal spending on drugs and increasing federal payments for Medicare Part D catastrophic coverage. Once people hit the catastrophic level of Part D coverage, beneficiaries pay a 5% coinsurance for drugs while the Federal Government pays the vast majority of the remaining costs. But there is no limit. The Inspector General's report said that federal payments for catastrophic coverage in 2015 exceeded .2 billion in 2015, which is more than triple the amount paid in 20Incredibly, only ten high-priced drugs accounted for nearly one-third of all drug spending in catastrophic coverage in 2015..While the Social Security hold harmless provision provides important protection from Social Security reductions, more money is required to catch up to Medicare Part B levels in following years. If COLAs continue to remain low, premiums would adjusted again due to low COLAs. COLAs would have to be substantially higher in following years or the whole process would happen all over again.
