Report section states focus on quality and outcomes amid waiver changes emerging delivery system and payment reforms data image png base64 iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAHsAAAAVCAYAAABmOZFVAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAARnQU1BAACxjwv8YQUAAAAJcEhZcwAAEnQAABJ0Ad5mH3gAAABPSURBVGhD7dExAcAwDMCwdPxZBVj7jIWsxwB8dvdOCN fAJoNaTak2ZBmQ5oNaTak2ZBmQ5oNaTak2ZBmQ5oNaTak2ZBmQ5oNaTak2YyZByvoA3Lay1 oAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC

Are My Medical Expenses High Enough to Deduct From My Income Taxes?.How can we strengthen Social Security's financing structure? Take TSCL's 2020 Senior Survey and let us know what you think about some of the leading proposals and thank you for your participation..The debate over cutting entitlement spending, however, isn't new. For years, proposals to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits have been put forth from both sides of the aisle. Consider:.There are better and more fair choices for indexing the COLA. The BLS also measures the price change experience of All Urban Consumers which covers about 88% of the U.S. population including retirees as well as younger people, and it even maintains a "senior-specific" experimental CPI, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, that our government has quietly tinkered with since 1983, but has never used to calculate the COLA..Most Americans contribute 6.2% of every paycheck to Social Security, but due to the taxable maximum earnings cap, wealthy individuals earning more than 8,500 pay nothing above that amount. Do you support increasing or eliminating the maximum taxable earnings limit to make the program more solvent?.Consumer price index data show that the rate of inflation has changed significantly over the past decade, and has yet to return to the average rate during the decade prior to the 2010 Great Recession. From 1999 to 2008, COLAs averaged 3%. Since 2010, however, the COLA, which is tied to the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, has averaged just 1.4%. Since that year, inflation has been so low that there was no COLA payable three times - in 2010, 2011, and 201In 2017, inflation was almost zero at just 0.3 percentage point. This is not normal, and research on the costs experienced by older Americans indicates the COLA often doesn't reflect inflation that retirees actually experience..So, which one should you take?.On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy met with four expert witnesses to discuss several options for strengthening the Social Security Program. Chairman Sherrod Brown opened the hearing by saying, "A few years ago … all of the conventional Washington wisdom was that we would have to cut the program. Today, not only are cuts to Social Security deeply unpopular, but we are now debating how much we need to expand the program.".This week, Members of Congress continued to focus on a series of fiscal 2015 appropriations bills including one that would provide funding for the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In addition, The Senior Citizens League announced its support for a new piece of legislation, and two key bills gained cosponsors.

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"When family caregivers don't get the support they need, and few get enough, they are faced with leaving their jobs, taking on significant debt, or moving their loved ones out of their homes and into costly assisted living facilities," Cates notes. TSCL believes this growing problem must be addressed to enable older and disabled Americans to live with dignity in their homes and communities. TSCL encourages the public to contact Members of Congress and ask elected lawmakers to support the Credit For Caring Act. To learn, more visit..To help protect the buying power of earned benefits, The Senior Citizens League is fighting proposals to cut COLAs. TSCL has developed an online calculator for the public to learn how much a COLA cut would cost in Social Security income. Visit seniorsleague.org/chained-cola-calculator/..Email Sign-up … Continued

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You may not be able to get your Medigap plan back: Under federal law you are only guaranteed the right to purchase a Medigap plan during your initial enrollment period. If you drop your Medigap plan and later want to get it back you must do so within a year of trying an MA plan. After that, an insurer may deny coverage or impose 6 - month waiting periods for pre-existing conditions..We should also ensure senior citizens are getting an accurate cost of living adjustment. The model the government is using right now would be fine if seniors were regularly buying iPods and laptop computers. But that's just not the case. I've proposed a better way to calculate the COLA based on items seniors actually use, such as food, housing, gasoline, healthcare and prescription drugs..What TSCL does is try to hold elected officials accountable, not just in an election year, but when there is not an election. With your continued support, we will do just that. … Continued

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