News

"Beneficiaries were increasingly able to use technology to bridge the care gap. Fifty-eight percent said their provider offers both phone and video appointments..The past two years without a cost-of-living adjustment felt like the government clamped a lid on benefits. Now a Congressional debt reduction committee is working on a plan that's likely to keep your COLA "chained" down in the future by switching to a more slowly-growing "chained" consumer price index.."New Analysis by The Senior Citizens League Shows 1990s Changes to Social Security Calculations Hurt Today's Seniors".But she worries how she will manage another year with no net increase in her benefits. "This isn't right," she says. "Congress isn't looking out for the interests of seniors," she adds. "I'm going farther and farther into poverty.".Unfortunately, it is not as cut-and-dried as "everyone will now pay per month for their insulin." It is much more complicated than that..Last week President Trump announced he will once again ask Congress to pass more economic stimulus legislation that he insists must include a payroll tax cut. In other words, he wants to cut the amount of money that is paid into Social Security and Medicare by today's workers the money that funds the checks sent out to those who receive payments and pays for the health care of seniors each month..There's not much time to head off this situation. We can't let Congress think they can shrug and look the other way again this time. A 2.5% COLA is the amount that the Congressional Budget Office estimated beneficiaries would get in 2021, and those funds are already factored into the Social Security spending projections for 2021..The government negotiates prescription drug prices for veterans and Medicaid beneficiaries, but it is barred from negotiating lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. As a result, seniors enrolled in Part D often pay much higher prices than other Americans for their prescription drugs. What are you doing to correct this unfair policy?.At what age do you think most people retire? According to the Social Security Administration, the largest group retires at age 62 with reduced benefits! Only 4% wait to start benefits at 70, the age at which they would get the maximum amount. Could the fact that most people file for Social Security benefits so early be simply because they hear so often that they can do so at 62? Does 62 become a distorting anchor on our thinking?