Monday Holidays.If signed into law, the Social Security Preservation Act would require that all annual surpluses of the Social Security Trust Funds be invested in marketable interest-bearing obligations of the United States or obligations guaranteed by the United States. It also outlines certain requirements for determining the annual surplus of the Trust Funds. With the Social Security Trust Funds set to expire in 2033, TSCL believes that it is now more important than ever for Congress to protect and secure the program's monies. Rep. Paul's bill would do just that, and we were pleased to see support grow for it this week..The amount you pay for your CT scan will vary by your Medicare Advantage plan and whether you get your CT scan from a preferred provider. You will need to call your plan to learn the out-of-pocket cost details, and to make sure the facility, doctors, and medical technicians performing the CT scan are preferred providers with your Medicare Advantage plan. You could pay considerably more if you use providers who are not under contract with your Medicare Advantage plan. Call the customer service number on the back of your health plan's card, have your questions written down and be ready to take notes..Then in early 2018 when the 2017 payroll returns are filed by your employer, Social Security will verify how much you actually earned in 2017, and may repay any excess benefits that were withheld or let you know if they did not withhold enough. But beware! TSCL has learned of cases where these recalculations have been wrong and very time consuming to get corrected..The letter and the fact sheet leave out the most important part of the calculation - the additional lifetime income that one could expect to receive over a 20 30 year retirement, if one delays benefits up to age 70. That can add up to tens of thousands of dollars if you are in reasonably good health. In fact, Social Security's publications tend to imply that people get about the same amount of benefits if they start benefits early because they receive the reduced benefit over a longer period of time. That isn't necessarily the case..The largest percentage of those surveyed in TSCL's 2017 Senior Survey - 37 percent - reported that their household expenses rose by more than 9 per month in 2016, yet the annual cost of living adjustment increased benefits by only 0.3 percent, about .00- .00 per month for someone with average benefits. Few beneficiaries actually saw an increase in benefits at all, however, because rising Medicare Part B premiums took the entire COLA. "This flat growth in Social Security forces tens of millions of retirees and their families to spend more out of savings every year, go into debt, or look to Medicaid and other safety net programs to make ends meet," Johnson says..There's an old saying: "Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made.".Lawmakers in Washington had mixed reactions to Judge Hanen's injunction. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said, "Today's victory is an important one, but the fight to reverse the President's unconstitutional overreach is not over. The President must respect the rule of law and fully obey the court's ruling." Meanwhile, Representative Luis Gutierrez called the injunction a simple "bump in the road." He stated: "The administration intends to take this to the highest court in the nation, where we know justice and fairness will prevail on this executive order.".For roughly 10 million older Americans who have been retired since 2000, the buying power of their Social Security benefits only 'improved' by a meager 1 percent, from a loss of 34 percent over the period 2000 to 2018 to a loss of 33 percent from 2000- 201The loss occurred even though beneficiaries received a 2.8 percent annual cost - of - living adjustment for 2019.

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TSCL believes that Medicare healthcare costs already cause many beneficiaries to shoulder a heavy financial burden in retirement. Cutting Medicare benefits, while shifting more costs to beneficiaries, would be the wrong way to strengthen program financing..Though the special deficit committee on deficit reduction failed to reach an agreement last week, it appears that the Super Committee was successful in shaping the discussion for future Medicare savings. "Premium support" refers to a plan in which Medicare would subsidize premiums charged by private insurers that care for beneficiaries under government contract. Experts suggest this plan is gaining support. "This is an idea that could easily resurface in the future as Congress seeks additional Medicare savings for deficit reduction," said Patricia Neuman, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation..If you require a non-formulary drug, for which there is no acceptable alternative, your doctor can ask your Medicare drug plan for a Formulary Exception, a type of Coverage Determination that would add the drug to your Part D plan coverage. If approved, you would be able to purchase your medication at the lower plan co-insurance and receive discounts if or when you reach the Part D doughnut hole. … Continued

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Reducing the taxation of Social Security benefits by increasing the income thresholds that subject Social Security benefits, from ,000 for single filers and ,000 for joint returns, to ,000 and 0,000 respectively..TSCL's members and supporters, through various surveys and polls, have backed these policy recommendations. Together, they represent a balanced and responsible path forward for the DI program. To read the full set of policy recommendations submitted by TSCL to the Social Security Subcommittee, visit our website. To stay updated on efforts to strengthen and reform the Social Security program, follow TSCL on Facebook or Twitter..Over the past four years, TSCL's surveys have found that about 9 out of 10 people receiving Social Security benefits report that their household spending rose by at least per month during the prior year. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. "Retirees need to plan for large monthly jumps in spending annually over the course of their retirement," Johnson says. In every year since 2014, the largest percentage of those people participating in TSCL annual Senior Surveys reported that their household spending jumped by more than 9 per month. Since 2014 annual COLAs grew a total of just 3.5 percent, averaging less than 0.9 percent per year. One factor in why retirees have such a gap between their COLA and spending is the consumer price index that the government uses to measure inflation and to determine the annual boost. "One would think that the CPI used to calculate COLAs for retirees would be based on seniors' spending patterns, but it is not," says Johnson. Instead, the COLA is determined by the growth in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Younger working adults spend a far smaller portion of their income on medical costs, which is the fastest growing category of the CPI in most years. On the other hand, younger working adults spend more on transportation and gasoline, categories that have gone down dramatically in recent years. "This tends to understate the inflation experienced by the majority of people receiving Social Security," notes Johnson. … Continued

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