Renewed Urgency For Vaccination Amid Spread Of Covid Delta VariantMedicare Part B premiums are forecast to soar an astonishing 22.3% for an estimated 16 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2017 - the biggest such jump in nearly three decades. The anticipated spike in monthly premiums, from 1.80 to an estimated 9.00 per month in 2017, is primarily due to the effects of an extremely low inflation that's expected to hit retirees again next year. Medicare Trustees believe that the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2017 will be insufficient to cover the amount of the Medicare Part B premium increase for the majority of Medicare beneficiaries. That would trigger a special "hold harmless" provision of law.." The new Obama Administration policy is opening Social Security to as many as 1.2 million non-citizens who won't even have legal status, " Hyland says. This is occurring at the same time Congress and the President are debating major reforms that would cut the Social Security and Medicare benefits of U.S. senior citizens who paid into the system the legal way," he adds. TSCL supports the "No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act", introduced by Representative Dana Rohrabacher, which would ban the use of earnings for jobs worked while illegal to be used to determine entitlement..Those participating in The Senior Citizens League's annual senior survey, which is still being conducted, confirm that monthly household expenses made steep increases over the past year, far in excess of the dollar amount that their COLAs increased benefits. The 2.8 percent COLA raised the average Social Security benefit of ,400 by about per month this year. Yet more than 78 percent of survey participants report that their household spending rose by more than .00 per month in 201"When costs climb more rapidly than benefits, retirees must spend down retirement savings more quickly than expected, and those without savings or other retirement income are either going into debt, or going without," Johnson says. … Continued
Agriculture And Rural DevelopmentCould the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment be more fairly adjusted to provide a fixed annual dollar amount? If the dollar amount of the increase were to be based on middle income, then low- and middle-income beneficiaries would be on more equal footing, and higher income beneficiaries would not be hurt any worse than we typically are anyway like this year with a 1.3% COLA!.Calling it an "economic imperative," President Obama continues to call for comprehensive immigration reform that would provide a path to legal status for illegal immigrants. A day after the President outlined his plan in a speech on the border with Mexico, immigration reform legislation known as the "DREAM Act" was reintroduced in the Senate..In addition, since 1992 there has been a significant change to the government's bottom line. For the government fiscal year ending September 30, 2000, the Congressional Budget Office reported a surplus of 6 billion- billion of which comes from non Social Security revenues. The CBO estimates the 10-year non-Social Security surplus to be about .1 trillion. … Continued