This years study of retiree costs found that between January of 2000 and January of 2019, Social Security COLAs increased Social Security benefits by 50 percent, but the costs of goods and services purchased by typical retirees rose more than twice as fast - 100.3 percent. Food and medical costs - particularly for fresh fruits and vegetables, and prescription drugs - were among the most rapidly - rising costs over the past year. The study examines the growth since 2000 in price of goods and services that are typical for retired and disabled households, and, compares them to the growth in Social Security benefits due to annual COLAs..The so-called "cromnibus," as many on Capitol Hill are calling it, seems to be a compromise that most lawmakers will be able to accept. However, some have been outspoken about their opposition since it does not include a policy rider that would explicitly prohibit the funding of the President's executive orders. Sen. Ted Cruz, stated this week: "Congress should stand up and use the power of the purse to say we will fund the operation of the government but we will not allocate taxpayer dollars to lawless and illegal amnesty.".When President Obama announced his massive immigration executive action last fall, a White House fact sheet said the actions would "expand the country's tax base by millions of people and billions of dollars." Then in a plainly self-contradictory statement, the fact sheet goes on to say that many of the 5 million individuals who would be eligible for work authorization and deportation protection "are already in the workforce contributing federal, state, and local taxes. But roughly two-third of them don't pay taxes today." The White House thus implies that executive action would add solvency to the program, because most of the people it affects aren't paying taxes into the program today..That's the case for Ninon Ruscher and her husband John of Tuscon, Arizona, who rely on Social Security for all of their income. Mrs. Ruscher says that, "seniors who rent their own homes are in a precarious financial situation." "Once we pay the monthly bills, we sit at home. We don't have the money to do anything or go anywhere. Once the food runs out we have to wait until our next Social Security payment," she adds. Mrs. Ruscher notes that even though her husband receives health benefits through the Veterans Administration, and she's enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, they are still trying to pay off expenses from her recent surgery earlier this year..The non - partisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that, if 500,000 of the roughly 6 million Americans with Alzheimer's are prescribed Aduhelm, total Medicare spending on this one drug, for one year, would be nearly billion. This would far exceed the spending on any other drug covered by Medicare Part B, or Part D, in 201Medicare spending for all Part B drugs was billion in 201What's more the estimated billion does not include the cost of any associated care. The drug can cause some people temporary brain swelling or small bleeding spots on the brain and requires pricey magnetic resonance imaging scans to monitor treatment.."When family caregivers don't get the support they need, and few get enough, they are faced with leaving their jobs, taking on significant debt, or moving their loved ones out of their homes and into costly assisted living facilities," Cates notes. TSCL believes this growing problem must be addressed to enable older and disabled Americans to live with dignity in their homes and communities. TSCL encourages the public to contact Members of Congress and ask elected lawmakers to support the Credit For Caring Act. To learn, more visit..In a letter that was sent to the twenty-nine conferees on Monday, members of the House Appropriations Committee wrote: "We call on the Budget conference to reach an agreement on the FY2014 and FY2015 spending caps as soon as possible to allow the appropriations process to move forward … If a timely agreement is not reached, the likely alternatives could have extremely damaging repercussions." According to the appropriators, the alternatives include: a government shutdown on January 15th, continued governance by continuing resolution, and a second round of across-the-board spending cuts via the "sequester," which is scheduled to hit in January..Deaths related to COVID-19 were higher among American Indian and Alaskan Native persons, Hispanics, Blacks and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander persons than whites. Among nearly all these ethnic and racial minority groups, the COVID-19 related deaths were more than double the death rate of non-Hispanic white persons..According to Senator Thune, there is likely to be another major bill providing more money for businesses and others to keep the economy afloat. However, that may not happen until later in June or sometime in July. Obviously, that will use up time that would otherwise have been spent dealing with the other important issues Congress must address.
