News

TSCL will be letting Congressional leaders know of our opposition to a payroll tax cut and we will continue to advocate both in opposition to any payroll tax cut, and also for a fairer and more accurate way of calculating what the COLA should be each year..The Social Security Cost-Of-Living Adjustment is likely to be the first target for cuts. Most deficit plans in recent years propose tying the annual inflation boost to a more slowly - growing consumer price index known as the chained CPI. The new tax legislation, in fact, adopts the chained CPI to adjust tax brackets and the new expanded standard deduction. That will mean the standard deduction will grow more slowly than before and that people will wind up in higher tax brackets, or a greater portion of their income will be subject to tax, more quickly than before. For retirees, the chained CPI would mean lower COLAs, as well - if Congress extends the change to Social Security..As I turn on the hose, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing..An untested federal and state Medicare and Medicaid demonstration program is raising concerns that it affects too many low–income seniors, and is growing too fast. Enrollment has far exceeded early expectations and both provider, and advocacy groups are warning that its size would be hard to unwind if the demonstration fails to provide quality services and access to medically necessary services..TSCL joins voices with Chairman Sam Johnson in urging President Trump to nominate a Social Security Commissioner immediately. To stay updated on the nomination and confirmation process in the months ahead, visit the Legislative News section of our website every Friday morning..It can happen because the patient got treated by a doctor not on the list of providers that contract with that person's health plan to provide care at negotiated rates. This can happen on visits to a hospital emergency room, when there's no option of which doctor to see, for example..The tax cut, which reduced the Social Security payroll tax for employees from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent, makes the Social Security trust funds reliant on general revenues and undermines the self-funding nature of the program. Social Security is funded by payroll taxes, and currently faces a billion cash-flow deficit. Extending the tax cut could exacerbate the program's funding issues..As was noted in last week's update, the AHCA would reform the current health system and negatively impact older Americans in several ways. It would restructure the Medicaid program, which funds nursing home care for many qualified Medicare beneficiaries. It would base premium subsidies on age instead of income, while allowing private health insurers to charge older Americans five times more than they charge younger folks for their coverage. And it would deplete Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund by eliminating two revenue sources that the ACA created, creating a funding crisis for the program..Talk in Congress about Social Security boost, maybe but not for awhile