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President’s Forum 150 – The week of March 18-22 was a very good week for the NRLN
A Winner!

NRLN President’s Forum 
By Bill Kadereit

Sometimes our wins are small and they don’t always affect “me” but in our NRLN world, we appreciate every one of them. While this year Social Security and Medicare are at risk and while we have a battle to win protecting annuitized pensions with our de-risking reinsurance proposal, we should also celebrate small steps forward. 

  • A week ago, we emailed Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley that we had success in getting our proposal into law to modify the pension recoupment rules to protect plan participants.
  • Pension plan sponsors had been able to recoup pension dollars from retirees, sometimes 15–20 years after retirement, many times in $10,000 chunks and in one payment. 

We pointed out to the Commissioner that Congress amended the Secure 2.0 Act at the end of 2022 to incorporate many of our recommendations including: limiting the lookback period to three years, restricting the amount that can be recouped from monthly checks to 10% and extending the payback period instead of demanding it all in short periods of time. 

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NRLN Members Experienced Social Security Overpayment Clawback

Twenty-three NRLN members know that Social Security overpayment clawback can happen to anyone – because it happened to them. 

On March 11, 2024, the NRLN sent an email to all members requesting that anyone who has had to payback money to Social Security participate in the NRLN’s brief survey. The purpose of the survey was to support the NRLN’s efforts to change the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) regulation on overpayment clawback.

The NRLN sent letters to Congressional leaders in December and the new Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley earlier this month proposing that the existing SSA overpayments be waived when it was SSA’s fault and the current Social Security Code of Federal Regulations be replaced with statutory language similar to the NRLN’s proposal on pension recoupment that was enacted in the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.
 
Since passage of SECURE 2.0, a company doesn’t have a fiduciary obligation to recoup; but if it does recoup it must be done within three years of initial overpayment and may not recoup more than 10% of the overpayment per year. 

In a statement issued March 20, Commissioner O’Malley said the agency would cease “the heavy-handed practice of intercepting 100% of an overpaid beneficiary’s monthly Social Security benefit” if they failed to respond to a demand for repayment. Instead, he added, the agency will limit the clawback to 10% of an overpaid beneficiary’s monthly benefit. Additionally, the SSA will extend repayment plans to 60 months, up from its prior limit of 36 months, giving recipients an additional two years to repay the money. 

The NRLN applauds Commissioner O’Malley’s actions. We will continue to advocate for the parts of our proposal not yet adopted by SSA.

I want to thank the 23 NRLN members who participated in our survey. Their responses provided valuable information into SSA’s handling of recovery of overpayment which in each of our members’ cases was through no fault of their own. 

This was a quick survey but the input is very useful. If others want to add to the pile, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SSAQ 

Bill Kadereit, President
National Retiree Legislative Network

Click button below for insights into what NRLN members experienced.

Bill Kadereit Quoted in Article on IBM Retiree’s Lawsuit

Bill Kadereit, President, NRLN

A November 19, 2023 article in The Register reported that George Adomavicius, who worked for IBM for 42 years before retiring in October 2020, has personally filed a lawsuit against his former employer claiming its recent healthcare benefit changes represents age discrimination.

Adomavicius chose to sue on his own rather than hiring an expensive lawyer, “To correct a wrong.” 

The alleged wrong is the employee benefits transition that IBM announced on September 14, 2022. The corporation shifted medical coverage for Medicare-eligible IBM retirees to a new IBM-sponsored Medicare Advantage program run by UnitedHealthcare, as of January 1, 2023.

As The Register previously reported, IBM’s health benefits transition angered some retirees because it withheld Health Reimbursement Arrangement/Account (HRA) subsidies – credited to retirees during their time at the company – from anyone who refused to select one of the two new Medicare Advantage plans and preferred to retain their traditional Medicare supplement plan.

Steve Bergeron, another former IBM employee, started a petition to convince the company to let retirees choose their healthcare plans without forcing the issue by denying HRA funds. He managed to collect more than 3,500 signatures though ultimately gave up, according to The Register article.

NRLN President Bill Kadereit told The Register that the NRLN has been involved in a similar health benefits transition with Tennessee Valley Authority retirees. After trying to convince the State of Tennessee and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers Medicare, to intervene, the NRLN is seeking a statutory remedy with Congress.

The article reported that Kadereit argued this state of affairs is being allowed to happen by Congress to avoid tough decisions about how to deal with spiraling healthcare costs. And business accounts departments like it because there’s profit to be made.

“What Congress was trying to do is privatize Medicare. And the way they do that is to subsidize the insurance companies to put them in a market advantage, thus cannibalizing their own plan Medicare.

“And now Medicare Advantage plans have a 54 percent market share and their incurred cost per enrollee is nine percent higher than the old fee for service costs. So what Congress is doing is avoiding having to talk about taxes because it affects electability.”

Click here to read the article in The Register. 

President’s Forum 149 – Full Disclosure Medigap Pricing, New This Year!

Social Security and Medicare programs both continue to face significant financing issues according to the annual Social Security and Medicare Trustees’ report issued March 31, 2023.

Based on the Trustees’ best estimates, this year’s reports show that:

  • The Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits until 2033, one year earlier than reported last year. At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing program income will be sufficient to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits.
  • The Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund is projected to be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits through at least 2097, the last year of this report’s projection period. By comparison, last year’s report projected that the DI Trust Fund would be able to pay scheduled benefits through at least 2096, the last year of that report’s projection period.

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In the News

The articles and opinion pieces below are for information and are not necessarily a reflection of the NRLN’s position on issues.

The NRLN is nonpartisan and its positions on retirement issues are presented in its Legislative Agenda and white papers that can be accessed from under the Legislative Agenda tab on the website main menu.

Biden, Trump keep it vague on looming Social Security insolvency crisis By Jeff Mordock, The Washington Times – March 25, 2024

House Republicans undermine Trump with call for $2.7 trillion in Social Security and Medicare cuts By Brett Arends, MarketWatch – March 23, 2024

Medicare Advantage chaos is making life more difficult for hospitals, insurers — and seniors By Janna Harron, Yahoo Finance – March 23, 2024

Biden signs $1.2 trillion spending package to keep government open By Brett Samuels, The Hill – March 23, 2024

House Republicans want to raise the Social Security age. It could hurt those who ‘work their whole lives and die sooner,’ the agency’s head says. By Juliana Kaplan and Ayelet Sheffey, Business Insider – March 22, 2024

Biden ‘doesn’t have a plan’ on Social Security solvency, Treasury secretary says By Greg Norman, Fox News – March 22, 2024

Medicare Will Cover Weight Loss Drug Wegovy For Eligible Members By Antonio Pequeño IV, Forbes – March 21, 2024

Probe finds Social Security levied fines on some poor, disabled prematurely By Lisa Rein, Washington Post – March 21, 2024 

Social Security Chief Testifies in Senate About Plans to Stop ‘Clawback Cruelty’ By David Hilzenrath, KFF Health News – March 21, 2024

Trump vs Biden: How do they plan to save Social Security as the program faces a $22 trillion funding shortfall? By Sabina Wex, CPMoneyWise – March 21, 2024

Social Security head warns against raising retirement age after GOP proposal By Clayton Vickers, The Hill – March 21, 2024

Medicare Advantage Is Under Fire. What It Means for Your Health—and Wallet. By Elizabeth O’Brien, Barron’s – March 20, 2024

CMS launches model to increase primary care investment in Medicare By Rebecca Pifer, Healthcare Dive – March 20, 2024

Growth in Medicare Advantage will increase risks of lower revenue, Moody’s says Press Release, Health/Employee Benefits News – March 20, 2024

Congressman: ‘Day of reckoning’ nears for Medicare Advantage By Alan Wooten, Washington Examiner – March 20, 2024

Patients Ask Biden To Save Them from Medicare Advantage By Jake Johnson, Crooks and Liars – March 2024

Social Security clawed back overpayments by docking 100% of benefits. Now it’s capping it at 10%. By Aimee Picchi, CBS News – March 20, 2024 

Sen. Gillibrand announces legislation that would give Social Security boost for seniors WBNG – March 20, 2024

House’s largest conservative caucus calls for increase in retirement age By Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill – March 20, 2024

Congressional leaders sell $1.2 trillion spending package to members before shutdown deadline By Kevin Freking, Associated Press – March 20, 2024

What’s Happening With the Medicare Drug-Price Negotiation Lawsuits? By Shannon Firth, MedPage Today – March 19, 2024

‘Struggling to survive’: Pennsylvania retiree slapped with lifetime penalty for delaying Medicare sign-up when she was ‘too poor to afford insurance’ — how you can avoid this costly mistake By Bethan Moorcraft, Moneywise – March 19, 2024

Americans love pensions. Where did they go? Will they ever return? By Daniel de Visé, USA TODAY – March 19, 2024

Biden’s New Budget Proposal for Medicare Part D By Fran Majid, SmartFinancial – March 18, 2024

Freedom Caucus urges GOP to reject government funding deal without border reforms By Aris Folley, The Hill – March 18, 2024 

AstraZeneca follows rival, will cap inhaler prices at $35 per month amid scrutiny By Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill – March 18, 2024

Finding a doctor who specializes in senior care is hard. Here’s why. By Carly Stern, The Washington Post – March 17, 2024

The Complete History of Social Security, From Inception to Today By Kristin Hitchcock, 24/7 Wall St – March 16, 2024

U.S. Senator Marshall, colleagues urge Senate Leadership to act to reduce prescription drug prices By Shayndel Jones, WIBW – March 16, 2024

A look at healthcare spending trends in Medicare households By Paige Minernyer, KFF Health News – March 15, 2024

Retiree association outraged over Verizon pension buyout By Rob Kozlowski, Pensions&Investments – March 15, 2024

Trump clarifies he will ‘never do anything’ to ‘jeopardize’ Social Security and Medicare By Ryan King, New York Post – March 14, 2024

HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra tells Senate that Biden’s FY25 budget request would strengthen Medicare “beyond our lifetime.” The Recount – March 14, 2024 

Social Security Head Promises to End Overpayment Error  By Suzanne Blake, Newsweek – March 14, 2024

Exclusive: Social Security Chief Vows to Fix ‘Cruel-Hearted’ Overpayment Clawbacks By Fred Clasen-Kelly – KFF Health News and CMG TV Stations – March 13, 2024 

U.S. prescription drug market in disarray as ransomware gang attacks By Joseph Menn and Daniel Gilbert, The Washington Post – March 13, 2024

Biden pounces as Trump eyes cuts to Social Security and Medicare By Steve Benen, MSNBC – March 12, 2024

Medicare Doc Pay Cut Eased as Biden Signs Federal Spending Bill By Kerry Dooley Young, MedScape, – March 12, 2024

Advocates and Lawmakers Call for Changes to Medicare’s Coverage of Alzheimer’s Treatments By Brendon Scanland, WENY News – March 12, 2024

Biden budget aims to bolster Social Security, raise taxes on stock buybacks, corporations  By Courtney Degen, Pensions&Investments – March 12, 2024

Biden’s Budget Rejects Any Cuts To Social Security and Medicare By Keerthi Vedantam, Kiplinger’s – March 11, 2024

Trump hints at changing his mind about ‘cutting’ Social Security and Medicare By Misty Severi, Washington Examiner – March 11, 2024 

Trump vs. Biden: Where 2024 presidential candidates stand on Social Security, Medicare By Lorie Konish, CNBC – March 11, 2024

How Big Pharma is fighting Biden’s program to lower seniors’ drug costs By Tom Room, The Washington Post – March 11, 2024

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