What do you think? Take TSCL's 2016 Senior Survey..The Social Security OIG report concluded, "Having an SSN on the MBR - regardless of the date of entitlement - improves the Social Security Administration's ability to prevent improper payments," and recommended that the agency take additional steps to ensure the oldest auxiliary beneficiaries without an SSN are still alive. Yet the Social Security Administration disagreed, saying that the Agency "believed current policies and safeguards were appropriate to meet program needs.".Nearly 1.5 million teachers and other public servants see their Social Security benefits reduced by as much as 40% due to the Windfall Elimination Provision. What do you feel should be done about this?.Questions To Ask Your Member Of Congress At Your Next Town Hall.TSCL recently released an analysis of the proposal that estimates the chained CPI would cut the growth in average benefits of ,100 today by about ,634 over the course of a 25-year retirement, and that assumes that the economy becomes more stable soon. Nevertheless, the reductions in COLA growth compound over time, and are deepest when seniors are the oldest and sickest. By the time seniors are in their late 80s or 90s, when they are most likely to have chronic health problems, monthly benefits would be about 5 lower using the chained CPI..However, for many retirees age 65 and up, most or even all their COLA was offset by rising Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs. A recent survey conducted by TSCL found that 48 percent of survey participants reported that, after the deduction for just the Part B premium, their COLA increased their Social Security benefit by less than Another 6 percent of survey respondents reported no increase to their net benefits at all..Now, when the husband receives his valid Social Security number, he has already worked 12 years and would be eligible to file a claim for Social Security benefits in the future. If he kept copies of the W2s with the phony number, he can file a claim for retirement benefits as early as age 62, or disability benefits sooner, if he meets the medical and other criteria. At 65, or two years after becoming disabled, he would also qualify for Medicare. In addition to a retirement or disability benefit of his own, his spouse, his ex-wife, and children may also become entitled to benefits on his account as well..On the other hand under Medicaid, net drug prices are heavily influenced by two rebates that are required by law. Manufacturers of brand name drugs must pay a rebate equal to 23.1% of the average price that manufacturers charge to pharmacies. In addition, for generics, manufacturers are required to pay a rebate of 13% of the average price they charge to pharmacies..Remember "Flo"? In 1999 she was the blond, perky, mature lady who came onto our TV screens telling us that she was here "to tell seniors about changes that affect our medicines." She would end by saying "I don't want big government in my medicine cabinet." Flo implied that, if Medicare provided a drug benefit for seniors, it would stifle research and development of new life-saving drugs coming to market and restrict access to drugs a patient was already taking.
