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Proposed Social Security cost-of-living adjustment won’t cover living costs, seniors say
Groups supporting senior citizens rallied at the Kluczynski Federal Building Thursday against a proposal introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday that would change the way cost-of-living increases are calculated for seniors. The new calculation would use a measurement…
Medicare registration deadline Saturday, December 7th
If you need to sign up Medicare, and haven’t time is running out. The registration deadline is Saturday, December 7 at midnight.Registration is for Medicare Parts C and D. Medicare Part C provides health care coverage and usually includes Medicare Part D, which is…
GOP bill would reduce federal retiree benefits to offset defense cuts
Two Republican lawmakers have introduced a proposal that would require federal employees to contribute more of their salary toward retiree benefits in order to offset deep cuts to the Defense Department. The “Provide for the Common Defense Act,” introduced by Reps.…
House, Senate SGR Markups Possible Next Week
Next week is likely to be one of the busiest weeks in quite a while in Congress on a health care issue that does not directly involve the Affordable Care Act. The Senate Finance Committee Dec. 12 is scheduled to…
Permanent ‘doc fix’ unlikely this year
Lawmakers have all but given up on efforts to permanently replace the Medicare physician payment formula this year and have refocused their effort on getting it done in 2014. Both the Senate Finance and the House Ways and Means committees are…
Medicare patients will get a financial break in 2014
Medicare beneficiaries got some good news this fall, when government officials announced that the Part B monthly premium and annual deductible would remain flat for 2014. The cost picture is more complicated when it comes to other parts of Medicare, however,…
Six things you need to know about Social Security in 2014
Here are six things you need to know about Social Security for 2014. For clarity’s sake, here is a rundown of what is changing next year, and what isn’t. Social Security recipients are getting a raise — but not much of one.…
Warren is MoveOn.org’s ‘Progressive Champ’ for Her Expand-Social-Security Agenda
In a message to its members, MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group, hailed the Social Security “expansion movement” launched by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). In a speech on the Senate floor, and in television interviews, Warren recently declared, “The era of fighting…
VA benefits set to slightly increase in 2014
When veterans and their families, who receive disability compensation and retirement benefits from the Veterans Affairs Department, receive their annual cost-of-living increase next month, for the first time ever, it won’t be rounded down to the nearest dollar. Overall, the COLA…
You Can’t Fix Income Inequality Without Fixing Unemployment
President Obama’s speech today on income inequality was long and eloquent, but if I could boil it down to a one-sentence summary, it would be this: Large-scale efforts to protect the economy’s neediest have a triumphant history in America. Jump back…