Medicare Recipients to See Premium Cut — But Not Until 2023 | The Associated Press
Officials announced earlier this year that Medicare was reevaluating 2022’s Part B premium hike, which was tied to an expensive new Alzheimer’s drug. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said that while he believed the premium should be reduced mid-year, legal and operational hurdles mean the reduction won’t happen until 2023.
There’s a Push in Congress for a New National Retirement Plan to Fill Big Savings Gap | CNBC
Lawmakers in Washington, DC are considering legislation — known as Secure Act 2.0 — that would make some major changes to retirement plans like 401(k)s and IRAs. But a bipartisan group of lawmakers is also exploring the idea of a national retirement plan that covers those without access to a retirement plan through their employer, potentially modeled after the federal Thrift Savings Plan.
IRS Sitting on Your Tax Refund? There’s a Bright Spot. | CBS News
The IRS went into tax season with a backlog of millions of tax returns still awaiting processing from last year. The good news, if you’re still waiting on your refund, is that the IRS pays interest on payments that are 45 days late or more. The current interest rate is 4 percent, but that’s likely to increase later this year.
Overcoming Your Bias Against Aging Can Improve Your Life | Next Avenue
You know the old saying, “mind over matter”? Research shows it can apply to aging — people with positive views of getting older tend to be healthier and more active in their later years, and vice versa. The author of a recent book discusses how to challenge and change deeply held beliefs about aging.
News You Should Know is a digest of news from publications around the nation about finance, investing, and retirement.
So congress cant even stabilize social security and fix it along with WEP and GPO but they are going to come up with a mandatory retirement savings program ? Seriously?
My thoughts exactly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sad part is they will do it, and do nothing about WEP and GPO.
You need to educate yourself… Congress has been pilfering the Medicare funds and redirecting money for decades!
LBJ decided and his cronies decided to raid the SS Trust Fund to help finance the war in, Vietnam war with a promise to repay the funds, never happened. IOU’s still in a file cabinet in West Virginia as the story goes.
Everyone knows that educate yourself
I just wanted to know when are the government is going to pass the$1,200.00 each year beginning in 2023 like what Bernie Sanders and the others Democrats Sentors because we the people who are getting disability and social security needs that money so we can make it with the inflation on everything’s and everything’s else is so expensive including medicines
Will our monthly PERA benefit rise with the return of monies?
Hi Sandra, the Medicare Part B premium reduction mentioned in the above article applies only to Medicare Part B and is not tied directly to either your PERA benefit or any PERACare (Medicare Advantage) premium you may pay.
That is not what she asked. She was referring to the money the state of Colorado failed to put into PERA. So we were told that we would only get 1% this July because of that. The state of Colorado gave PERA that money back this year. So she is asking are we going to get more than 1%. PERA makes sure the pre-medicare insurance they offer is so high that retirees get their insurance else where. That way PERA gets to keep each month the money that is suppose to be used to help pay retirees insurance. I have asked a couple of times how much does PERA make a year by doing this I never a reply, I bet it is easily millions of dollars a year.
Hi Glenn, the Automatic Adjustment Provision, part of Senate Bill 200 in 2018, adjusts member contributions and annual increases for benefit recipients based on PERA’s funding progress. This year’s annual increase of 1%, as announced last year, was not directly affected by the state’s missed $225 million payment to PERA, but every dollar into PERA helps keep us on track. Any changes to the annual increase for 2023 will be announced later this month with PERA’s annual report.
PERA sets the Pre-Medicare premiums at the level needed to cover the medical and pharmacy claims for the group, and are never artificially elevated to dissuade retirees from enrolling. As you can imagine, the health needs of a retiree-only population are higher, which leads to higher premiums in PERACare compared to employer or individual plans. The health care subsidies are funded by employers and held in a healthcare trust fund used solely for PERA retirees who enroll in PERACare. PERA is not making any money when retirees elect to enroll in health coverage outside of PERACare.
Part of our retirement benefit is when we use the health insurance we get from PERA they pay up to 170 dollars a month I think. It has been several years since I have been able to afford to use PERA’s insurance so I do not remember how much the monthly amount is. If 20,000 people out of the 600,000 retirees get their insurance somewhere else. PERA saves a month 20,000 X170 = 3,400,000.00 a month which is 40,800,000.00 a year.
Thank you for clarifying what I asked. Still need PERA answer. I see that other PERA beneficiaries are reaping higher monies than DPS. What the ….?
LBJ decided and his cronies decided to raid the SS Trust Fund to help finance the war in, Vietnam war with a promise to repay the funds, never happened. IOU’s still in a file cabinet in West Virginia as the story goes.
I have to pay 200. Pre a month.Ihave a b&c 70 years old and still pay to fix my Dent .
I have upmc and I don’t pay anything at drs or dentist. All kind of benefits online catalog to order a lot of different things you would get from a drug store. You might want to switch. I’m 66 and broke so it really helped me.
Don’t worry, the Congress and Senate still get free everything and both parties are millionaires. They don’t care! I’m just so angry ???
They needed to means test social security and increase the cap to $400,000 so that it will be solvent past 2035.
Pbgcmpba.prepaid.gov sherriff coalation of police department tonya kept stealing from me 60 years ago
Us old people are down to eating once a day can’t afford groceries can’t afford gas the government is worried about everything but the economy social security does not cover the price of everything for us to survive
I agree with you
Amen to that. I am 83.
My OPINION:: I agree. I worked 44 years full time out of home got AAS degree, and 46 years fulltime farming with spouse to help feed the world and now retired and barely make ends meet. A slap in the face yet I see so much waste on giving to welfare which has to be paid back usually by family and by them losing everything worked for. Welfare was set up to help at a time of need. Yet too many live off it, have no morals, no respect, and the generations follow because there is no incentive to break the cycle of living on welfare. Years ago…nobody would dare to be on welfare, because they were proud and worked to have what they could afford. No lake homes, no 2nd or 3rd homes, no expensive vacations, etc. I earned my PERA and I am thankful for it. I still think SS/Medicare need to step up n help more.
Can someone tell me what PERA is.
I’m on SSDI. Just regular Medicare. Worked for many years and many hours.
They say that the average SS benefit is like 1500.00 well I get half of that. I can’t even rent a studio apartment if I needed one. And that’s with the increase. They give us that then take more money out for Medicare part B. I have an advantage plan and play for that too. Unless I change companies that don’t take my doctor’s..
I also believe the amount to pay the part B should ajust, the lowest amount is pay for people that receives up to $85,00 annually, I don’t make even half of that, but have to pay the same $170.00 per month that the one that makes 3 times more than me.
That is sinful
I also believe the amount to pay the part B should adjust, the lowest amount is pay for people that receives up to $85,00 annually, I don’t make even half of that, but have to pay the same $170.00 per month that the one that makes 3 times more than me.
I never made anywhere near that much. I’m on disability now and have barely $100 left after I pay bills every month. When my disability was finally approved (after 3.5 years of $0.00) I was told that Medicaid would cover my Medicare premium…ha wrong! I have to pay the $170 myself. So the raise we got this year was basically just enough to cover the premium increase. Govt has completely forgotten and doesn’t care about us seniors!
I pay $276/mo part B for 25 k/yr.
Seniors are suffering. We worked and paid our dues and we still get screwed over. We shouldn’t have to decide whether to get our medicine or buy a few groceries. We definitely shouldn’t be going hungry. Stop helping other countries and help US citizens first. We deserve better.
I agree with you 100% th government has taken from social security to help other government funding and should have to pay that back with interest as far as I know they haven’t ?
They should have to draw the same social security as every one else and pay into a retirement plan like many other people do. Instead of their pension that they voted for themselves. After all they work for us and most of them should have been fired a long time ago!
You are sooo right. Help the US citizens ?
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Us who work hard as a frontliner should not be paying at all and get all the benefits we need in the health care. We are serving the nation, giving our life just like the military and we should not paying anything for health . Thank you.
Are you kidding me … Look up military pay (no where near nursing pay levels. First 3 ranks military pay levels QUALIFY for food stamps. Plus, the dangers and separation over many months (up to years) away from their family members are NO comparison. You sleep in your bed each night. Don’t use over-hyped COVID as a badge of courage for yourself. I am thankful for our military members’ (past and present) commitment to DUTY. And their assignments far away from loved ones is not their only hardships, NOR are they shortlived COVID time-like periods. Such hardships are thruout their years of service. And strikes can land them in prison. While Medical staff AND teachers are constantly on picket lines on a REGULAR yearly basis… which cause harm to kids and parents (plus costs). WHEN have you seen our military on any strike picket lines? So suck it up — You took an oath–remember….
I want to make sure that you are Counseling? I hope so because I am in need.
Those advocating for means testing to receive Social Security benefits should move to a communist country if they think the government should keep the money I paid into the fund & the interest it generated because the government decides I make too much money to get my benefits. My suggestion to fix the looming SS deficit is to have everyone pay into the fund and get rid of the present income cap. Don’t try to steal my benefits.
Somewhere along the line they seem to have forgotten that Social Security is OUR money that WE paid in to our entire working years! We ARE entitled to get it back….not see if we qualify for it!! BS!!
I am a widow and I pay utilities, house taxes, auto insurznce and auto/license taxes, and home maintenance costs the same as when my husband was still here. Food cost went down some. But the the income I am receiving now is less. Luckily i don’t have to pay rent.
The tax code severely hurts single retired people who count on dividends to supplement social security.
It’s a shame when retirees get a small increase everybody else wants a piece of our pie, so we end up with nothing, people who make decisions in the house and senate give them self’s thousands of raises, and a great retirement, what about us little people, we vote them in, maybe we should take a double take and lick them out
I completely agree. PERA decided from the get go to fix their “Underfunded” status on the backs of retirees. They continue to say all PERA groups, meaning retirees, those not yet retired, employers, must contribute to help fix this. Well I didn’t work 35 years for the State to have this become “fully funded” in 2047, 2050 or whenever–by which time I’ll be long gone! Current state employees are able to receive raises the legislature sets, which in 2022 I think are 3%, but retirees are the group who can LEAST afford this reduced COLA. I worked for many years of my retirement, but am not able to do so now. Yet, in a time of inflation-gone-rampant thanks to the rich administration who seem incapable of doing anything with wisdom and are blind to “us little peons”–we get a 1% raise. Even SS I believe gets 5.9% this year. One percent doesn’t even fill my gas tank, much less groceries, medical bills due to aging issues. Even PERA’s healthcare is a joke. One of my major providers who I have to see frequently suddenly became no longer covered when PERA switched to United Healthcare. During Open Enrollment, I checked to be sure ALL my providers were covered, and was assured they were, including this one. Come Feb after United’s repeated assurances EOBs not being paid were their error, suddenly found they would not cover this provider at all. Yet–Anthem, Cigna, Aetna, and Humana Medicare plans cover this person. Despite grievances to Medicare and United–UHC could care less–I had to change plans finally in June (special exception due to the circumstances) OUTSIDE of PERA’s plans to get her covered. This was unfortunately NOT a provider I could change. Now owe thousands of back-pay dollars due to the crappy switch to United. This provider had been covered under the same MA1 plan with Anthem for the years we had MedAdv plans through Dec. 31, 2021–suddenly not covered by UHC??? Between the lack of good insurance and worthless COLAs that cause a decision of whether to get groceries or pay other monthly bills (and I don’t even have a mortgage anymore, no credit card debt–just trying to live as meagerly as I can)–PERA seems to remain blind to how hard it is on many retirees who have nothing but the COLA as an increase. Very sad, I enjoyed my work in Higher Education, but now have times I wish I’d stayed in the private sector, could have made more and had a better retirement.
They should have to draw the same social security as every one else and pay into a retirement plan like many other people do. Instead of their pension that they voted for themselves. After all they work for us and most of them should have been fired a long time ago!
I totally agree!
Yes. Congress n senate and other politicians have to quit getting everything! Give back to the middle class workers who work!
I totally agree!
I am a 69-year-old widow daughter of a veteran who served in the US army for 22 and a half years. My husband was also in the service US army and he did his hitch. My father who fought in Vietnam and Korean vet return over in his grave if he saw this America today. This is my country and I love it but they’re trying to make us look like an overpopulated or disaster and something’s got to be done about it soon. I understand with the land of the free and the home of the brave but for everybody for walk in our country and get better benefits than we do? What’s up with that? Meanwhile our SSI and SSD are suffering on government scraps plus foot everybody paid into it and have they ever tapped off of the social security the way they tap everything else it’s money when they need it or what they consider an emergency.??
I agree with all of you. We work all our lives at low pay jobs and keep all the WORLD going. Then when we get old and have issues health. Money. Does anyone in the government care? NO we are put out like a old bag of trash on the roadside. What a wonderful caring place we live in?????
I want my post listed
This is how I feel.
Ok