Changes are looming for Medicare and Social Security. Make your opinion count. Visit TSCL online at and take our monthly poll!.Calling it an "economic imperative," President Obama continues to call for comprehensive immigration reform that would provide a path to legal status for illegal immigrants. A day after the President outlined his plan in a speech on the border with Mexico, immigration reform legislation known as the "DREAM Act" was reintroduced in the Senate..According to the Center for Disease Control, it has been recognized for many years that people 65 years and older are at high risk of developing serious complications from flu compared with young, healthy adults. This risk is due in part to changes in immune defenses with increasing age. While flu seasons vary in severity, during most seasons, people 65 years and older bear the greatest burden of severe flu disease. In recent years, for example, it is estimated that between 70 percent and 85 percent of seasonal flu-related deaths have occurred in people 65 years and older, and between 50 percent and 70 percent of seasonal flu-related hospitalizations have occurred among people in this age group..Advisor editor Mary Johnson estimates that using the chained CPI would cut lifetime Social Security benefits by about 7% over 25 years. New retirees with an average benefit of ,100 in 2010 would receive about ,634 less over a 25-year retirement period. "The financial impact is deceptive, appearing small at first," says TSCL Executive Director, Shannon Benton, "But the cuts compound over time, growing deepest when seniors are the oldest and sickest. By the time seniors are in their late 80's or 90's, when they are most likely to have chronic health problems, monthly benefits would be about 5 lower using the chained CPI.".In the meantime, The Senior Citizens League supports legislation that would boost Social Security benefits and tie the annual COLA to an index that better reflects the expenditures of retirees, such as the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly. To learn more visit..The bill would provide legal status and a path to citizenship to young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children. Under the bill, generally, children brought to the U.S. before age 16, have been in the country continually for at least five years and who complete two years of college or military service in good standing would qualify..Third, three new cosponsors Representative John Garamendi, Representative Jim McGovern, and Representative Judy Chu signed on as cosponsors to the bipartisan Nursing Home CARE Act, bringing the total up to twenty-two. If adopted, the bill would protect Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries by more quickly codifying emergency preparedness rules for nursing home facilities that receive funding from the federal government..Experts estimate that fraud, waste, and abuse within Medicare cost more than billion each year. What efforts do you support to ramp up prevention?.Senate Returns to Washington

Legislative Staff Coordinating Committee Webinar Writing For The Legislative Audience

Many of you agree with Joe. About 74% of survey participants in TSCL's Senior Survey support applying the 12.4% Social Security payroll tax to all wages above the annual maximum which is 2,900 in 201This one fix alone is estimated to close roughly three - quarters of the Social Security financing gap. Let's ask our Members of Congress to get on board. Read more about sustainable solvency for Social Security in our latest Benefit Bulletin, "Social Security Legislation Would Provide 75 Years of Solvency To Social Security.".TSCL's Board of Trustees on Capitol Hill.In short, the Social Security disability trust fund would become insolvent by mid-2021 and the retirement trust fund would become permanently depleted by 2023, just two short years from now. … Continued

State Indicator Small Group Health Insurance Market Rate Restrictions

Long Term Care Ombudsmen: Find information about long term care facilities in your area, and investigations of complaints if you've encountered a problem..Despite these obstacles, Subcommittee Members were relentless in their requests for CMS to reform the system. A frustrated Chairman Herger stated, "To date, CMS has offered little beyond excuses and questionable reports. If CMS does not responsibly act, then Congress will require them to." Trenkle closed the hearing with an agreement to provide the Subcommittee with an updated list of options and cost estimates by the beginning of next year. TSCL will continue to monitor any movement on this important issue..In addition, it would close Medicare Part D's "doughnut hole" two years earlier than under current law, and it would require drug manufacturers to provide new rebates to low-income beneficiaries. If adopted, the plan would also increase transparency in the prescription drug market by requiring manufacturers to publicly disclose the costs of research and development, discounts, and other data that determines drug pricing. In an attempt to increase competition within the drug market, it would also prohibit anti-competitive deals, reduce the period of market exclusivity for brand-name manufacturers from twelve years to seven, and eliminate rules that extend market exclusivity when manufacturers make minor changes to products. … Continued

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