These provisions are outdated and unfair to many seniors, and it's time to repeal them. Workers who paid into Social Security and their spouses should not be penalized and lose earned benefits for working in public service and the private sector. If you paid into Social Security, this is your money, not a government entitlement or subsidy..Congress recently ended two Social Security claiming strategies that helped couples maximize their retirement income. The strategies being eliminated allowed individuals to claim a spousal benefit while their own retirement benefits continued to grow. The "file and suspend" option is no longer available for people who will be younger than age 66 on April 30, 201Those older than age 66 on that date are grandfathered in and still able to use the claiming strategy. If you and your husband won't be 66 until later in the year, your husband would not be able to file and suspend as planned..This year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Medicare. Signed into law by President Johnson on July 30, 1965, Medicare has proven itself to be an American success story. At the time of enactment, only half of America's seniors had health insurance, leaving an already vulnerable population one illness away from financial ruin. Medicare ensures that seniors will get the health coverage they worked a lifetime for. It provides seniors and their families with peace of mind and allows all Americans to age with dignity. In my home state of Pennsylvania alone, over 2.3 million seniors rely on Medicare for their health coverage..Alexandria, VA little-known file maintained by the Social Security Administration suggests that significant long-term costs are associated with immigration reform, according to a new report released today by The Senior Citizens League. The report examines data from the Social Security Earnings Suspense File, which has received 161.7 million suspicious W2s from 1990 through 2011 totaling over trillion in wages. The suspicious W2s have names, Social Security numbers, or both, that don't match the Social Security Administration's records - which occurs when undocumented immigrants use fake or fraudulent Social Security numbers to work..The first day of each month - when big payments go out for Medicare reimbursements, military salaries, veterans' benefits, pensions for military and civilian federal employees and more - is particularly bad. The third day of each month and Wednesdays, when Social Security benefits go out, aren't great either. Interest payments to Treasury's creditors go out on the 15th and at the end of each month of beginning of the next..The data certainly suggests this is the case. The years in which inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for Workers has been the highest, the difference in the chained CPI was the greatest. The average difference between the CPI-W and the chained CPI is 0.3 tenths of a percentage point. But in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina sent gas prices through the roof, the CPI-W paid a COLA of 4.1% the following year. The chained CPI would only have paid 3.4% - a difference of 0.7 tenths of a percentage point. In 2008 the CPI-W paid a COLA of 5.8% the following year. The chained CPI would have only paid 5.2%, a difference of 0.6 tenths of a percentage point..This week, one new cosponsor Rep. John Tierney signed on to the Strengthening Social Security Act, bringing the total up fifty-seven. If signed into law, the bill would reform the Social Security program in three ways: it would adjust the benefit formula, resulting in more generous monthly benefits; it would adopt the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers, resulting in more accurate cost-of-living adjustments, and it would lift the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. H.R. 3118 would extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund responsibly, without cutting benefits for seniors..Without an emergency COLA, the financial impact of rising Medicare Part B premiums on beneficiaries is expected to vary significantly. A provision of the Social Security Act known as the "hold harmless" provision guarantees that the Social Security benefits of most seniors and the disabled will NOT be reduced when the Medicare Part B premium increases by more than the amount of that person's COLA. The Part B premiums will therefore be adjusted so that the monthly Social Security benefits of people protected by this provision will not be reduced from one year to the next..Totalization with Mexico is highly controversial because of the millions of Mexicans who have illegally worked in the United States without authorization. The agreement raises concerns that millions of such workers and their dependents would become newly eligible for Social Security benefits worsening the long-term solvency of the program. In addition, substantial new costs could trigger benefit cuts and higher taxes for both retirees and workers.
