Archive for August, 2007
Let’s Set the Record Straight…One last time
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007Ask Mary Jane, NCPSSM Contributor: Mary Jane Yarrington, Senior Policy Analyst “I’ve contributed 40 hours to Social Security but can’t collect my benefit”…Yes, you can.Here’s a sampling of the different ways the myth surrounding the Windfall Elimination Provision comes to me from questioners: “My wife heard that she won’t be able to collect her own [...]
Let’s Set the Record Straight…Again
Friday, August 17th, 2007Ask Mary Jane, NCPSSM Contributor: Mary Jane Yarrington, Senior Policy Analyst “Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme” …No it’s not. Anyone who tells you Social Security is a Ponzi scheme either doesn’t understand what a Ponzi scheme is or their mother’s didn’t teach them not to fib. This myth is a favorite of conservatives who [...]
Let’s Set the Record Straight
Friday, August 17th, 2007Ask Mary Jane, NCPSSM Contributor: Mary Jane Yarrington, Senior Policy Analyst It’s been said a “lie told often enough becomes the truth”. How sadly true, especially for those determined to convince future generations that Social Security just won’t be there for them. Not a day goes by that I don’t see the same old myths [...]
Have YOU ever given away $34 million?
Thursday, August 16th, 2007Apparently the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has.A new GAO report investigates CMS audits of private insurance providers offering Medicare Advantage plans. These private MA plans will collect billions in government subsidies while also charging $1000 more per beneficiary to provide the same coverage already provided by Medicare. This latest GAO report finds: “CMS [...]
Time to go Part D Shopping…Again
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007Only in Washington could a 14% increase in prescription drug premiums for seniors be “spun” to sound like good news. That’s CMS’s strategy in announcing next year’s Part D premium hike. The administration’s logic goes something like this: since Part D isn’t costing as much as we first predicted seniors shouldn’t really mind double-digit premium [...]
An Oldie but Goodie
Tuesday, August 14th, 200772 years ago today President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. Today, nearly 50 million seniors, the disabled, and survivors receive Social Security benefits and for many it will make the difference between living independently or in poverty. No other government program in American history can claim the successes achieved by Social Security. [...]
Too Silent on Social Security
Friday, August 10th, 2007Kudos to Sen. Hillary Clinton for being the first presidential candidate to remind everyone about the continuing privatization threat to Social Security. Here is her answer to a pension question posed at the August 7th Democratic Candidates Forum in Chicago: Clinton: “The pension system is broken. We’ve got to stop companies going into bankruptcy in [...]
House Passes Historic Vote for Seniors & Children
Thursday, August 2nd, 2007There were a lot of cheers in our office last night and celebrations today as families nationwide get the news of last night’s House vote in support of the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act. Incredibly is was still a largely partisan vote with most Republicans and a few conservative Democrats voting against it. [...]