To learn more about important issues affecting seniors, to sign a petition to Congress, or to find contact information or your Members of Congress, please visit the ACTION CENTER of our website..As we said, TSCL is supportive of intentions of these, and other efforts on the part of both parties to lower prescription drug prices. However, we also have our own concerns..Addressing the Part A shortfall will be particularly difficult and contentious for everyone. To bring greater solvency to the HI trust fund, lawmakers will be faced with the politically unpalatable choices of reducing Medicare spending, which could include requiring that Medicare recipients pay more for their coverage and increasing the tax revenues received by Medicare. Congress last addressed Medicare Part A finances in the 2010 Affordable Care Act which, among other things, required hospitals to become more efficient in their delivery of care, while requiring that higher income workers pay a higher Medicare payroll tax rate..The far greater worry, however, is a sharp increase in almost every source of quality protein - including meat, poultry, and even canned tuna. "With many meat price increases in the double digits, we are highly concerned that older households may not be getting adequate supplies of protein in their diets," Johnson says. "This was a nationwide problem prior to the pandemic, and the problem has been exacerbated by shortages and disruptions during the pandemic," she points out..Without a doubt the public is often justifiably confused about the convoluted workings of federal benefit programs. But the one thing we are all aware of is the amount of money we pay into Social Security, which includes taxes for both retirement AND disability insurance benefits. Social Security disability benefits are earned - same as retirement benefits. Of the 12.4% payroll tax paid by workers and employers, the retirement trust fund gets 10.6% and the disability insurance trust fund gets 1.8% of the revenues collected.."Medicare, the federal health insurance program that covers Americans over 65, is facing an impossible dilemmShould it cover a new and expensive medication for Alzheimer's disease, which afflicts 6 million Americans and for which there is no existing treatment, even though the drug might not actually work?".The Senior Citizens League enthusiastically supports H.R. 1251, S. 1909, and H.R. 4704, and we will continue to advocate for their passage in the months ahead. For more information, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website..New study says drug prices really have been increasing.A push in the House to give legal status to illegal immigrants is reviving some movement toward immigration legislation this year. But the effort is running into outspoken opposition, including that from TSCL's grass roots senior members and supporters. At issue is whether undocumented immigrants, who have used fraudulent Social Security numbers to get jobs, would be allowed to claim Social Security payments based on earnings under those numbers.
