Permanent Doc Fix is Good News for Seniors in Medicare
Seniors’ Advocate Says Committee Passage of New Doctor Payment Formula is Long Overdue
“Each year, America’s seniors and their doctors wait and watch while a flawed formula passed by Congress more than a decade ago threatens double-digit cuts to Medicare physicians. This Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula is clearly inadequate and the House and Senate Committee votes to repeal it mark an important first step to improve Medicare payments to doctors while preserving seniors’ access to their trusted physicians. Replacing the current volume-based payment system with one that bases payments on the quality and efficiency of care is good news for seniors and for the Medicare program overall.
More work remains to be done as the House and Senate continue their efforts to find ways to pay for this legislation. Our top priority is to ensure those costs are not shifted to seniors in Medicare, half of whom live on incomes of less than $22,500 per year and already face high out-of-pocket health care costs.”…Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO
The National Committee’s letter to the Senate Finance Committee is here.
Five Ways Congress can Strengthen Social Security Now without Cutting Benefits
Social Security faces a funding shortfall in 2033 which, if not addressed, could result in across the board benefit cuts of about 23%. While this shortfall does not pose an immediate crisis, there are reasonable changes that Congress should enact to keep Social Security solvent and strengthen it for current and future generations:
1) Eliminate the cap on Social Security payroll contributions. In 2014, only wages up to $117,000 will be subject to the Social Security payroll deduction. Lifting the cap will subject all wages to the payroll contribution which will help address the majority of Social Security’s projected funding shortfall.
2) Slowly increase the payroll contribution rate by 1/20th of one percent over 20 years. This gradual increase in the rate will significantly strengthen Social Security’s financial condition well into the future.
3) Treat all salary reduction plans like 401ks. All workers pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on their contributions to retirement accounts but no payroll taxes are collected from workers flexible spending accounts such as HSAs, transit and dependent care plans. This change will add money to the program.
4) Increase the basic benefit for all current and future retirees by 5% of the basic benefit (about $55 per month). This modest but meaningful benefit improvement is a long-overdue boost, especially for low-to-middle income beneficiaries who rely upon their Social Security benefit for the majority of their income.
5) Provide Social Security credits for caregivers. When computing the Social Security benefit, grant up to five family service years to workers who leave paid employment to provide care to children under the age of 6 or to elderly or disabled family members. This will provide greater parity for women’s benefits which are typically less than men’s due to interruptions to paid employment caused by family caregiving needs.
Meet the CEOs Who Want to Cut Your Social Security
We’ve written before about the billion dollar anti-Social Security lobby, led by Wall Streeter Pete Peterson and his myriad number of astroturf front groups, here, here and here. These CEO and Wall Street friendly groups are spending a lot of money to convince Congress that grandma and grandpa’s Social Security is to blame for our economic woes rather than talk about the real problem…$1 trillion in corporate loopholes and income inequality which is destroying the middle class.
Hats off to the Institute for Policy Studies and the Center for Effective Government for their new report detailing the truth behind America’s CEO-led campaign against Social Security. Thanks also to the Huffington Post for this terrific infographic highlighting the report’s key findings:
Senator Warren and the Retirement Crisis
It’s not very often a speech in Congress is so dead-on that we share it, in its entirety, here. Yesterday’s speech by Senator Elizabeth Warren on America’s retirement crisis is a notable exception. We highly recommend you give it a view:
Permanent Doc Fix is Good News for Seniors in Medicare
Seniors’ Advocate Says Committee Passage of New Doctor Payment Formula is Long Overdue
“Each year, America’s seniors and their doctors wait and watch while a flawed formula passed by Congress more than a decade ago threatens double-digit cuts to Medicare physicians. This Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula is clearly inadequate and the House and Senate Committee votes to repeal it mark an important first step to improve Medicare payments to doctors while preserving seniors’ access to their trusted physicians. Replacing the current volume-based payment system with one that bases payments on the quality and efficiency of care is good news for seniors and for the Medicare program overall.
More work remains to be done as the House and Senate continue their efforts to find ways to pay for this legislation. Our top priority is to ensure those costs are not shifted to seniors in Medicare, half of whom live on incomes of less than $22,500 per year and already face high out-of-pocket health care costs.”…Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO
The National Committee’s letter to the Senate Finance Committee is here.
Five Ways Congress can Strengthen Social Security Now without Cutting Benefits
Social Security faces a funding shortfall in 2033 which, if not addressed, could result in across the board benefit cuts of about 23%. While this shortfall does not pose an immediate crisis, there are reasonable changes that Congress should enact to keep Social Security solvent and strengthen it for current and future generations:
1) Eliminate the cap on Social Security payroll contributions. In 2014, only wages up to $117,000 will be subject to the Social Security payroll deduction. Lifting the cap will subject all wages to the payroll contribution which will help address the majority of Social Security’s projected funding shortfall.
2) Slowly increase the payroll contribution rate by 1/20th of one percent over 20 years. This gradual increase in the rate will significantly strengthen Social Security’s financial condition well into the future.
3) Treat all salary reduction plans like 401ks. All workers pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on their contributions to retirement accounts but no payroll taxes are collected from workers flexible spending accounts such as HSAs, transit and dependent care plans. This change will add money to the program.
4) Increase the basic benefit for all current and future retirees by 5% of the basic benefit (about $55 per month). This modest but meaningful benefit improvement is a long-overdue boost, especially for low-to-middle income beneficiaries who rely upon their Social Security benefit for the majority of their income.
5) Provide Social Security credits for caregivers. When computing the Social Security benefit, grant up to five family service years to workers who leave paid employment to provide care to children under the age of 6 or to elderly or disabled family members. This will provide greater parity for women’s benefits which are typically less than men’s due to interruptions to paid employment caused by family caregiving needs.
Meet the CEOs Who Want to Cut Your Social Security
We’ve written before about the billion dollar anti-Social Security lobby, led by Wall Streeter Pete Peterson and his myriad number of astroturf front groups, here, here and here. These CEO and Wall Street friendly groups are spending a lot of money to convince Congress that grandma and grandpa’s Social Security is to blame for our economic woes rather than talk about the real problem…$1 trillion in corporate loopholes and income inequality which is destroying the middle class.
Hats off to the Institute for Policy Studies and the Center for Effective Government for their new report detailing the truth behind America’s CEO-led campaign against Social Security. Thanks also to the Huffington Post for this terrific infographic highlighting the report’s key findings:
Senator Warren and the Retirement Crisis
It’s not very often a speech in Congress is so dead-on that we share it, in its entirety, here. Yesterday’s speech by Senator Elizabeth Warren on America’s retirement crisis is a notable exception. We highly recommend you give it a view: