On Wednesday, the Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their 2015 reports on the financial outlook of the two programs. At a press briefing, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said: "Today's reports confirm that both Social Security and Medicare are secure today and will remain secure in the years to come. Consistent with previous years, today's reports also show that these programs are facing challenges that need to be addressed.".The I.O.U.s in the Social Security Trust Fund are a special type of non-marketable bond issued by the U.S. Treasury when excess revenues are received. The cash revenue that isn't needed to pay benefits is "borrowed" and used for other government spending. By law, the I.O.U.s held by the Trust Fund pay interest, and that forms an additional source of income - on paper, at least..If the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment were based on a more accurate measure of inflation for seniors, beneficiaries would not be receiving a record-low 0.3% increase this year. They would be receiving an increase of 2.1% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Do you support legislation that would base the COLA on a more accurate inflation index like the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly?.The BCRA, the "repeal-and-replace" bill that lawmakers have been working on for several weeks, was defeated on Tuesday night with a vote of 43 5The ORRA, the "repeal-and-delay" bill, was defeated with a vote of 45 55 on Wednesday afternoon. And the "skinny repeal" bill which would have repealed a few of the ACA's most controversial provisions was defeated early Friday morning with a vote of 49 51, just two hours after the text of the bill was revealed. The critical "no" votes came from three Republican Senators: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and John McCain..A sixty-four billion dollar budget cut does nothing to prevent fraud to begin with, especially when investigators and stronger oversight through the judicial system during the determination process are critically needed. TSCL believes that funding should be appropriated for the Cooperative Disability Investigations Program. The CDI program continues to be one of the Social Security Administration's most successful initiatives to prevent fraud, returning an estimated for every spent in fighting fraud..Typically, working adults age 65 and older can delay enrolling in Medicare without penalty, if they continue to receive group health insurance through their employer. The employer, however, must have more than 20 or more employees. Employers with fewer than 20, fall under Medicare primary payer rules. Under current law, Medicare is the primary payer at age 65 and if you don't sign up by your Initial Enrollment deadline, your former insurance will no longer cover you, because by law, Medicare pays first. In addition, you would be subject to permanent late enrollment penalties for the rest of your life when you do get around to signing up for Medicare..According to the Congressional Budget Office, a growing share of the government's spending for Social Security is going to pay for disability benefits.[iii] Between 1990 and 2012, the ratio of disabled recipients to retirees changed dramatically, increasing 112.5%, from 3.2 to 6.7 beneficiaries per 100 covered workers.[iv] In testimony to the House Subcommittee on Social Security, the Congressional Budget Office said that legislation enacted in 1984 expanded the ways in which people could qualify for the DI program, which included allowing symptoms of mental illness and pain to be considered even in the absence of clear - cut medical diagnosis. In addition, disabled beneficiaries also receive coverage under Medicare, regardless of age, after a 24 - month waiting period..And while Social Security benefits have flat-lined since 2010, retirees report that household expenses are still climbing - causing people to spend retirement savings more quickly and to go into debt. This year Social Security recipients received no COLA at all, but 73 percent of survey participants reported that their monthly expenses grew by more than over the past twelve months. Things aren't likely to improve soon. The Social Security Trust Fund trustees estimate that the COLA in 2017 will be just 0.2 percent - just .00 for ,000 in benefits..Alexandria, VA little-known file maintained by the Social Security Administration suggests that significant long-term costs are associated with immigration reform, according to a new report released today by The Senior Citizens League. The report examines data from the Social Security Earnings Suspense File, which has received 161.7 million suspicious W2s from 1990 through 2011 totaling over trillion in wages. The suspicious W2s have names, Social Security numbers, or both, that don't match the Social Security Administration's records - which occurs when undocumented immigrants use fake or fraudulent Social Security numbers to work.
