But then I think, since I can run down to the post-box when I take out the trash, I may as well pay the bills first..Under growing pressure to reduce the federal deficit, the prospect of major Social Security and Medicare cuts is the greatest it's been in almost three decades. The recent debt limit deal calls for a bipartisan committee that has until Thanksgiving to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by .2 trillion. TSCL believes that the committee would very likely include a change to a more slowly growing consumer price index that would cut annual-cost-of-living adjustments. There are also proposals that would require seniors to pay a bigger portion of their Medicare costs..Interest rates fell. Seven percent of Social Security financing comes from the interest earned by the assets held by the Social Security Trust Funds. Those assets are actually non-marketable government bonds, like I.O.U.s from the U.S. Treasury payable to the Social Security Trust Fund. That income stream was reduced because short term interest rates dropped to extreme lows during 2020 and so far in 2021..TSCL is pleased that after more than a decade, lawmakers have finally passed legislation to repeal and replace the SGR once and for all. The SGR has not worked as it was intended to since 2003, and seventeen times it has called for steep physician pay cuts, threatening access to quality medical care for seniors. We are hopeful that the new system will bring increased stability to the Medicare program..A tax reform plan being floated by the House GOP would meet strong opposition from activists and older voters, warns The Senior Citizens League. The plan would end the 12.4 percent payroll tax that funds the monthly checks of about 60 million current Social Security beneficiaries. "This proposal would sabotage Social Security for both current and future Social Security recipients," warns Mary Johnson, Social Security policy analyst for TSCL..Representatives Donna E. Shalala, Phil Roe, M.D., Ann McLane Kuster, and Larry Bucshon M.D. have introduced legislation to eliminate out-of-pocket costs for vaccines to everyone under Medicare. Currently, Medicare vaccine coverage is split between Medicare Part B and Medicare Part D. Seniors can access vaccines covered under Part B - such as flu, pneumonia and Hepatitis - with no out-of-pocket costs. However, under Part D, vaccines such as shingles and pertussis often include a cost to beneficiaries..Since 2000, Social Security benefits have lost 23 percent of their purchasing power due to inaccurate inflation adjustments based on the CPI-W. This year, for instance, seniors would be receiving a 2.1 percent Social Security benefit increase if the COLA were based on the CPI-E. Instead, they are receiving a 0.3 percent COLA that is offset completely by increased Medicare Part B premiums..Last week was a busy one in Congress. There are 3 reasons for that. First, the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic in many more states and the need to pass another major piece of legislation to deal with its effects..With no increase in Social Security benefits over the past two
