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As negotiations continue over the coming days, TSCL will continue to monitor them closely and encourage lawmakers to avoid another shutdown on December 11th, since it would likely have a negative impact on Social Security and Medicare benefits. For updates, visit the Legislative News section of our website..Does Social Security Provide Enough Income For Today's Retirees?.Rural practices and patients deserve a better partner in the federal government when it comes to the health of rural America. History has shown that communities that don't have a reliable healthcare facility struggle to maintain their livelihood..The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services continued its preparation effort for the new health care law by announcing Marilyn Tavenner as its new top official. The move comes as the organization seeks to increase insurance industry oversight amid the overhaul process. Tavenner replaces Donald M. Berwick.."New Alzheimer's Drug Clouds Outlook For Medicare Premiums Next Year," Mark Miller, Reuters, July 12, 202"How Everyone On Medicare Could End Up Paying For The Pricey New Alzheimer's Drug," July 10, 202"Medicare Evaluating Coverage for ,000 Alzheimer's Drug," Ricardo Alonso Zaldivar, Matthew Perrone, The Associated Press, July 13, 2021..Increasing the payroll tax rate. Survey results have also shown strong support for a gradual increase in the payroll tax rate from 6.2% to 7.4%. An increase of that size would amount to an extra 50 cents per week for the average worker an amount that most feel is fair and practical..Lawmakers Adjourn for Holiday Recess.This year, for the sixth straight year, the Trustees issued a "Medicare funding warning." Marilyn Tavenner, CMS Administrator, stated: "While Medicare is stable for now, we have a lot of work ahead of us to guarantee its future." Expenditures by the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund have exceeded income since 2008 and are expected to do so for the foreseeable future. The Trust Fund is expected to cover only 87 percent of costs in 2024 and 67 percent of projected costs in 2050..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.

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While you should check with a professional financial advisor, you and your husband still have the right to claim spousal benefits only, when you turn 6Under the new law changes, while you couldn't apply for spousal benefits, based on a suspended application, your husband can apply for spousal benefits based on your full retirement age benefit, using a restricted application while his own benefit continues to grow. He would receive half of your benefit, or about 5 per month, until he claims his own retirement benefit. Together the two of you would receive ,215 per month, which is better than the ,150 you alone were hoping to get as a spousal benefit. Then, when he turns 70, he can claim his full benefit of about ,100 per month.."Many older taxpayers probably did not even know they were getting a medical expense tax break for 2017, or this year," Johnson says. The 7.5 percent of AGI threshold was unchanged from what taxpayers age 65 and older paid in 2016, and before. That threshold, however, was formerly scheduled to rise to 10% of AGI in 201"Meanwhile taxpayers younger than 65 could only deduct medical expenses in excess of 10% under the former tax law, and so for that crowd it may have been noticed as a tax break," Johnson notes..If you plan to cash out your home equity, it's important to have a very clear idea of how that money will be used and how it would benefit your retirement plan. For example, refinancing to do repairs and make improvements that add value and safety to your home benefit your retirement plan. Taking money out for a vacation or to support adult children doesn't offer any financial benefit to your retirement. … Continued

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I've been filling my mother's prescriptions at the same pharmacy without a problem and charged the same co-payment every month. In November when I picked up her prescription, I was charged the full price of the drug. She was not near the doughnut hole. I was told her drug card "was not in the system." I went ahead and paid the full price because my mother needed the prescription, but what can I do now?.While restricting a potential Part B spike in any given year is good news for beneficiaries, the problem itself isn't going away any time soon. "Unless Congress acts to boost Social Security benefits and finds a better way to adjust benefits for growing Medicare costs, this problem will continue occur with greater frequently in the future," says Johnson. "This approach of imposing future premium repayments doesn't fix the problem - it's like a payday loan. It just makes the premiums grow faster later, and the problem is triggered again the next time when COLAs are extremely low," Johnson says. The Senior Citizens League is working to get legislation introduced that would provide an emergency COLA of 3 percent in 202To learn more, visit..Disabled survivors benefits for a spouse and/or divorced spouse based on the deceased account. … Continued