With regard to your specific concerns on Social Security COLAs, as you are fully aware, after a person becomes entitled to receive Social Security benefits, his or her monthly benefit was designed to increase annually to maintain purchasing power over time. The amount of the COLA is based on inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. If the CPI rises, Social Security benefits for the next year increase proportionately. If the CPI falls, Social Security benefits stay the same. Like you, I too have long been critical of this formula that measures the level of inflation in our economy because older Americans have different needs than the "typical" American. In addition, the current CPI fails to adequately reflect the fact that seniors rely more on medical goods and services, which have a much higher inflation rate..TSCL is pleased that lawmakers on the Senate Aging Committee are raising awareness of scams against seniors and we agree that more must be done to combat the growing issue. In the months ahead, we will advocate for legislation that would protect older Americans from financial abuse. In the meantime, we encourage our supporters to read the Aging Committee's updated Fraud Book by clicking HERE. As Chairman Collins said on Wednesday, "The more that seniors know about these scams, the less likely they are to fall victim.".Data from the Social Security Administration suggest that a substantial portion of the estimated 8.1 million undocumented immigrants who illegally work in this country already have taxes withheld. According to the most recent data, the Social Security Administration received about 7 million "mismatched" wage reports in 2012 in which the name and Social Security number don't match those on Social Security's records. This most often occurs when undocumented immigrants work under invalid Social Security numbers..At age 62, Susan Gross of Barboursville, Virginia, is nearing retirement age, but has no plans to stop working yet. High prescription costs and the need to provide care for a disabled adult son and her 90 - year old mother are other major reasons. With her rheumatoid arthritis medication, Humira, costing ,900 a month, both Susan and her husband continue to work full time. Susan is dependent on the health insurance coverage available through her husband's employer to help her afford her medications..Will current beneficiaries and those close to retirement - people age 55 and older - be protected from benefit cuts?.Higher Medigap costs: Experts say that beneficiaries with Medigap supplements tend to use more services than those without such coverage. Currently the plans often cover part or most of the deductibles and the co-insurance. Lawmakers from both parties propose requiring beneficiaries enrolled in Medigap plans to pay more through higher deductibles and co-payments. President Obama's 2014 budget plan called for imposing a new surcharge on beneficiaries who buy Medigap plans in 2017..Compare details carefully: When making health plan benefit comparisons, closely examine the co-payment structure between plans. Your lowest costing plan may not be the best deal if you have health conditions like diabetes, or cancer that require trips to specialists, and pricey outpatient services like CT scans. Refer to your 2012 medical expenses to give you an idea of what the costs would be under alternate plans..The survey found that a person having the national average Social Security benefit in 2000 - 6 per month - would have ,169.80 per month by 2016 due to COLA increases. However, because retiree costs are rising at a substantially faster pace than the COLA, that individual would require a Social Security benefit of ,517.80 per month in 2017 just to maintain his or her 2000 level of buying power.."At the very least a plan is needed to prevent fraudsters from stealing critically needed benefits from legitimately disabled beneficiaries," Cates says. TSCL agrees with the Social Security Administration Inspector General that the best way to do this is to conduct full medical continuing disability reviews to ensure that people are still eligible to receive benefits. Yet In fiscal year 2013, the budget request was to conduct 650,000 reviews but given the actual funding received, the agency reported conducting only 429,000 such reviews. Consequently the Social Security Administration reports a backlog of 1.3 million overdue CDRs at the end of fiscal year 2013.[v] TSCL urges Congressional support to provide the resources needed to eliminate the CDR backlog and provide rigorous oversight from fraud.
