Alexandria, VThe Congressional Budget Office recently released information about Social Security that went unnoticed by the media, and was all but ignored by Congress and President Obama. The part of the program that pays benefits to 11 million disabled workers and dependents will be fully exhausted within three years - nearly 20 years sooner than the retirement program. When that happens, the Social Security trustees estimate that under current law the DI trust fund would have only enough revenues to pay 80% of scheduled benefits..But in addition to health benefits, Susan needs the income from work to help cover the expenses of family caregiving. Her 43 - year old son, Andrew who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant, and has lived at home with Susan his entire life. Suffering from seizures, a speech disorder and difficulties with walking and moving around safely, Andrew requires daily care. More recently Susan moved her 90 - year old mother in as well. With day care help from one of Susan's daughters and other family members, Susan has been able to keep her son and mom where they want to be - out of institutions, and at home with family - while she continues to work..Currently, the DI trust fund is set to become depleted in late 2016, and legislative action will be needed to prevent a 25 percent cut in benefits for 11 million disabled beneficiaries. According to those at Wednesday's hearing, reallocating funds from the Old Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund is the simplest and least controversial way of solving the problem. However, TSCL disagrees since doing so would mean that the OASI trust fund would become depleted four years earlier than currently projected. In our most recent survey of members and supporters, only 1 percent said they support the reallocation of funds from the OASI trust fund to the DI trust fund..TSCL has been monitoring the case closely in recent months because if implemented, the executive orders would have provided millions of undocumented immigrants with controversial access to Social Security and Medicare benefits. In a press release, Ed Cates TSCL's Chairman said: "Concern is high that undocumented immigrants who were illegally present and who worked under fake, invalid, or fraudulent Social Security numbers may benefit based on such work, potentially at the expense of others who paid into the system the legal way.".How can we strengthen Social Security's financing structure? Take TSCL's 2020 Senior Survey and let us know what you think about some of the leading proposals and thank you for your participation..The object is to provide at least 300 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine by January 202In most of the agreements with the drug companies, the Department of Health and Human Services says the vaccines will be given to the American people for free if part of a vaccine campaign. Once the vaccines are approved, the program is intended to quickly deliver them to as many people as possible. The federal government has said it will cover the cost of delivery, but health-care providers can charge to administer the vaccine..Research conducted by Johnson for The Senior Citizens League has found that Social Security benefits have lost 34 percent of their buying power since 2000 because the index used to calculate the annual cost-of-living-adjustment increase doesn't adequately factor in the cost increases experienced by retirees. In 2000, for example, it cost 5 to fill up a 500-gallon home-heating oil tank. The average benefit amount in 2000 was 6, leaving older homeowners with 1 to put toward other household expenses. Today, it costs about ,640 to fill the same oil tank, but those who received benefits of 6 in 2000 only receive ,193.10 in 201"That leaves older consumers digging into savings or borrowing to make up the difference of 6.90," Johnson says. "The Social Security loss of buying power for 2018–2019 appears likely to continue to get worse.".This week, one new cosponsor Rep. David Loebsack signed on to the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act, bringing the cosponsor total up to twenty-two. If signed into law, H.R. 1030 would adopt the CPI-E for the purpose of calculating Social Security cost-of-living adjustments. Currently, COLAs are based upon the way young, urban workers spend their money a method that underestimates the spending inflation seniors experience. H.R. 1030 would address this issue, resulting in more fair and accurate COLAs for seniors..Ending surprise billing has been a priority for TSCL this year so we are very hopeful this bill does, in fact, finally pass.
