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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MEDICARE AND YOU HANDBOOK 2023
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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
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.”
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.
Opinion: No, Social Security cuts aren’t inevitable. Raise the income cutoff. By Matthew Reed and Rayna Stoycheva, Des Moines Register, May 18, 2024
Medicare Part D In 2024: A Costly Prescription For Retirees? By Robert W. Bache, Forbes – May 17, 2024
The Medicare Bubble Has Burst By David Wainer, The Wall Street Journal – May 17, 2024
Social Security trustees want to steal from the disabled to stave off retirement program’s insolvency By Tiana Lowe Doescher, Washington Examiner – May 17, 2024
Opinion: Social Security’s annual report is terrible news for seniors By Brenton Smith, MarketWatch – May 17, 2024
Make Ends Meet: More than 50% of retirees rely on Social Security By Dawne Gee, WAVE – May 16, 2024
How scammers trick you into thinking someone is using your Social Security number illegally News 4 JAX – May 16, 2024
CVS risks losing up to 10% in Medicare memberships next year Seeking Alpha – May 14, 2024
Millions of Medicare Enrollees Get Free Vaccines By Rachel Nania, AARP – May 14, 2024
Opinion: Protecting Social Security Will Pave the Way to the White House By Henry Bonilla, Former Texas Congressman – May 14, 2024
Americans struggling to afford retirement By Elizabeth Pronn, Changing America – May 13, 2024
Commentary: Social Security is America’ contract with working people By Tom Conway, Daily Montanan – May 12, 2024
Work Longer, Die Sooner! America’s Dire Need to Expand Social Security and Medicare By Lynn Parramore, ZNetwork – May 10, 2024
5 myths about Social Security as the program faces a funding crisis By Michelle Singletary, The Washington Post – May 10, 2024
The Worsening Prescription Drug Shortage and How to Cope With It By John Rossheim, NerdWallet – May 10, 2024
Saving Social Security and Medicare requires reform Times News – May 9, 2024
The 25 Most Popular Drugs by U.S. Spending By Rachel Nania, AARP – May 9, 2024
Senators propose new Medicare program that would offer incentive payments to combat drug shortages By Zoey Becker, Fierce Pharma – May 8, 2024
Pre-approval Plan Proposed for Medicare Advantage Insurers By Joyce Frieden, MedPage Today – May 8, 2024
Medicare Trustees warn of low physician payment By Susan Morse, Healthcare Finance – May 8, 2024
Drugmakers in Medicare negotiations spent more on shareholder payments and marketing than R&D last year: Report By Joseph Choi, The Hill Newspaper – May 8, 2024
The Biggest Problem With Social Security Is Congress By Brenton Smith, Barron’s – May 8, 2024
If Medicare Covers Cataract Surgery, Why Are There Bills? By Diane Omdahl, Forbes – May 7, 2024
Medicare Advantage pluses could be cut in 2025 By Gary Guthrie, Consumer Affairs – May 7, 2024
AHIP shares how enrollment in Medicare Supplement coverage has evolved By Victoria Bailey, HealthPayer.Com – May 7, 2024
Better news for Social Security and Medicare doesn’t mean their problems have gone away By Paul Brandus, MarketWatch – May 7, 2024
Medicare Program Suddenly Ending Leaves Seniors in Limbo By Suzanne Blake, Newsweek – May 7, 2024
Inflation Reduction Act’s Dirty Little Secret: Largest Premium Increase Ever for Medicare Drug Benefit By Joe White, Townhall – May 2, 2024
Choose Medicare Act would move us a step closer to universal healthcare
By Chris Graham, Augusta Free Press – May 2, 2024
CVS Health chops 2024 forecast as cost struggles with Medicare Advantage persist By Tom Murphy, Associated Press – May 1,2024
Millions of Americans May Get Their Medicare Advantage Benefits Cut By Suzanne Blake, Newsweek – May 1, 2024
Amazon, CVS, Walgreens And Walmart Push To Let Pharmacists Prescribe Drugs By Bruce Japsen, Forbes – May 1, 2024