“Lifeline For Seniors

Circuit Breaker Called “Lifeline For Seniors”The UMass Boston Gerontology Institute is releasing a new report, Lifelines for Elders Living on the Edge: How Elder Support Programs Compare to Living Costs. The new Lifelines report benchmarks income limits, asset limits and benefit levels for the range of elder help programs to the cost of living in Massachusetts as measured by the Elder Economic Security Standard, which measures the real cost of living for seniors in every Massachusetts county. Lifelines include examples of how each program help elders, as well as when they fall short. There is one particular state tax benefit that is singled out as being especially valuable financially to the elderly. According to report author Laura Heinz Russell, “For people 65 and older, the MAIncome Tax Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit -- and the range of state and local property tax exemption, deferral and work-off programs -- can go a long way to help stretch your budget dollars -- and can start helping you right now.” Russell is Director of the Elders Living on the Edge Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston Gerontology Institute.Under the Circuit Breaker, seniors whose property taxes plus half of water and sewer bills, or 25% of rent, exceeds 10% of their income, can get a refundable tax credit of that amount up to a cap that increases with inflation. The credit is set at $930 in 2008. Like the Earned Income Tax Credit, you don’t have to earn enough to owe Massachusetts income taxes; you just need to fill out Form 1 and Schedule CB to get the tax credit check to help defray the cost of your property taxes or rent. The law allows qualifying seniors, if they have not yet filed for the credit, to file for three years retroactively. Within weeks of applying, they can receive a refundable tax credit – a check – for up to $2,610 if they qualify for the maximum amount each year. The income limits were set as a percentage of median incomes, and are adjusted for inflation each year. For 2008 the income limits are $49,000 for an individual, $62,000 for a head of household, and $74,000 for a couple. The house value limit was recently raised by the legislature and is pegged to the housing consumer price index; for 2008 the house value limit is $793,000. In addition to filing now for the past three years, seniors can file again with their 2008 returns. The combined four years of help to offset property taxes can reach $3,540, about three times last year’s maximum fuel assistance payment of $1,165, almost twice the maximum food card payment of $1,944, and nearly 12 times the IRS economic stimulus payment of $300 per person.. Add them together and you have real money to help meet skyrocketing bills. Fuel assistance and food cards (net income after deductions) are available to those with incomes under 200% of the federal poverty level, $20,800 for a household of one and $28,000 for a household of two.Group Pushes ForCredit Card ReformThe group Consumer’s Union, the nonprofit publisher of the magazine, Consumer Reports, says that as federal lawmakers passed a huge bailout for Wall Street, it’s time for Congress to take concrete steps to fix the problems that got us here. Consumer’s Union says “real credit card reform”, as passed by the House of Representatives, should have been part of any financial package signed into law. Credit card reforms would end some of the most abusive tactics used by credit card banks.

As home
values drop and home equity disappears, many families are relying on their credit cards to make ends meet. Credit card issuers take advantage of this situation by engaging in reckless and unfair lending practices, hitting cardholders with costly and unjustified interest rates and fees. Such fees and interest rate hikes on existing credit card balances can seriously destabilize a family’s finances quickly, as they must make minimum payments that are substantially higher than before.The credit card reform proposal will not prevent consumers from getting access to credit. Instead, it will level the playing field for consumers in several significant ways:-- It will stop companies from hiking interest rates on existing balances if the customer hasn’t been more than 30 days late paying; -- More fairly distribute payments to high-interest debt. Companies now keep consumers from paying down high-interest balances until we’ve paid off low-interest ones first;-- End bait and switch contract clauses, where companies give themselves the right to raise fees or interest rates at any time for any, or no, reason.--Prohibit granting credit cards to children under 18.For more information, go to Consumer’sUnion credicardreform.orgCongress Freezes Spending, Leaves TownWith the turmoil of the worldwide financial markets and the looming elections, lawmakers had their hands full in October. Although expected to adjourn for the year in late September, Congress stayed in session an extra week to deal with a host of pressing issues, particularly the massive bailout package.According to the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) a number of bills that were priorities for seniors got lost in the Wall Street meltdown. Most measures, including the GIVE Act (S. 3532), which provides tax benefits to volunteer drivers, the Elder Justice Act (S. 1070) and emergency spending for Older Americans Act programs, which did not advance in the final days. Congress did pass a continuing resolution (CR) that would continue funding for all federal programs not already funded for FY 2009, the vast majority of those at FY 2008 spending levels. The CR will run through March 6, a point at which the Democratic majority in Congress hopes to be dealing with an Administration more supportive of their funding priorities. Programs funded under the CR, such as the Older Americans Act, Social Services Block Grant, Section 202 Elderly Housing, Community Services Block Grant, and many others, will be frozen at FY 2008 levels until Congress revisits the CR. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) was one of a small handful of successful lobbying effort for elderly consumers. LIHEAPreceived an additional $2.8 billion over FY2008 levels, bringing its total appropriation to $5.1 billion.In another positive move, the mental health parity bill finally passed both chambers of Congress. Named after longtime Senate champions for mental health parity, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requires health insurance plans that offer mental health coverage to provide the same financial and treatment coverage offered for other physical illnesses. The bill does not mandate that a group plan provide any mental health coverage, however. The legislation builds on 1996 parity legislation, to cover deductibles, co-payments, out-of-pocket expenses, coinsurance, covered hospital days and covered out-patient visits. The final bill represents compromises between House and Senate versions and is expected to improve the mental health coverage of 113 million Americans.Another last-minute accomplishment, according to n4a, was Senate passage of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (H.R. 6893). This measure authorizes subsidized guardianship to enable children in the care of grandparents and other relatives to exit foster care into permanency. It establishes kinship navigator programs to help link relative caregivers to a broad range of services and supports; requiring notice be given to adult relatives of a child if he or she is placed in foster care; and allowing some states flexibility in licensing standards for relative foster parents.
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Unfortunately, the gloomy economic news did not help advance the second stimulus package favored largely by Democrats. In the Senate, the stimulus measure included $60 million in emergency spending for Older Americans Act (OAA) meals programs. House Democratic leaders have said they may want to bring Congress back after the election for a “lame duck” session to work on a stimulus package, but it’s unclear at this time if that is a realistic scenario.Another casualty was the Elder Justice Act. The Senate version (S. 1070) was primed to move quickly through in the final days, but then two Senators put “holds” on the measure, preventing it from advancing on the fast track. A House bill (H.R. 5352) containing several of the law enforcement elements of the Elder Justice Act did pass the House in late September, but the entire EJA bill (H.R. 1783) did not advance.Also on the missing-in-action list, the GIVE Act (S. 3532) gained a lot of steam in the waning days of the session, but it was not attached to one of the larger, moving bills. The Giving Incentives for Volunteers (GIVE) Act would increase the deduction rate to 27 cents per mile and would give the Treasury Department the authority to raise that rate, and increase the nontaxable reimbursement rate to 58.5 cents per mile. These changes would be valuable to recruiting and retaining volunteer drivers, since under current law, volunteer drivers are only allowed to claim a 14 cents/mile tax deduction to cover some of the costs of using personal vehicles for volunteer service. In addition, if an a nonprofit does reimburse a volunteer for driving costs, only the first 14 cents/mile of that reimbursement is considered nontaxable income for the volunteer.Congress Passes Landmark Disability Rights LawThe Associated Press called it ‘one of the more momentous pieces of civil rights legislation in recent years.” A new collaborative effort among some of America’s largest business associations and leading disability and civil rights advocates promoted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Amendments Act of 2008. Like other landmark civil rights laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act has transformed the nation since its enactment in 1990. As enacted, it outlaws discrimination against people with disabilities at work and in public life. The ADA has helped millions of Americans with disabilities to enter and to excel in the workplace. The law has made America a more accessible country with ramps, curb cuts, Braille signs, and captioned television programs. But disability rights advocates says that over the last decade, judicial decisions have excluded and left vulnerable individuals who should have been covered under the current ADA law. For example, as the courts’ interpretations stand now, many people with epilepsy who take medication to control the condition, or whose seizures only occur periodically, are no longer covered by the ADA. Narrow interpretations are hurting people with disabilities and hurting employers – that’s why the employer and disability groups joined forces to pass this new law.The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 balances protections for individuals with disabilities and the obligations and requirements of employers. The new law specifically overturns Supreme Court decisions that have caused too many people with disabilities whom Congress intended the ADA to cover to lose important protection. The new law makes it clear that Congress intended the ADA’s coverage to be broad, to cover anyone who faces unfair discrimination because
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of a disability. It clarifies the current requirement that an impairment must substantially limit a major life activity in order to be considered a disability. The ADA Amendments law prohibits consideration of mitigating measures in the determination of whether an individual has a disability, with the exception of ordinary eyeglasses and contact lenses. The law provides broad coverage for individuals “regarded as” having a disability under the ADA, and includes a provision to make it clear that accommodations need not be made for someone who is disabled solely because he or she is “regarded as” having a disability. The law provides protection for the first time to workers with serious ailments such as diabetes, epilepsy, and cancer. Supporters say the new law should cut down on the number of lawsuits over the implementation of the ADA. Advocates say this law would not have passed without a broad coalition of employers and disability advocates, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Society for Human Resource Management and HR Policy Association. The goal was to ensure that all Americans have a fair opportunity to secure employment. The law was the result of two years of cooperation between business groups and disability rights groups. Two out of three people with significant disabilities are unemployed—a statistic which has not changed since the ADAwas passed 18 years ago. Advocates hope the 2008 Amendments will help improve that number. Social Security COLARises Nearly 6%Inflation is not all bad news. The Social Security Administration announced this months that Social Security benefits for 50 million people will go up 5.8%next year, which is the largest increase in more than a quarter century. The increase, which will begin January, 1, 2009, will mean an additional $63 per month for the average retiree, or $756. Even that cost of living adjustment won’t be enough to pay for fill up of your oil tank. Next year’scost of living increase will go to more than 55 million Americans. More than 50 million receive Social Security benefits while the rest get Supplemental Security Income payments for the poor. The 2009 COLAis the largest increase since a 7.4% jump in 1982 and is more than double the 2.3% increase that retirees got in their monthly checks starting in January of this year.The typical retiree’s monthly check will go from $1,090 currently to $1,153. The average couple, both getting Social Security benefits, will see their monthly check go up by $103 a month to $1,876. The standard Supplemental Security Income payment for a couple will go from $956 per month to $1,011. The SSI payment for an individual will go from $637 per month to $674 per month. The average monthly check for a disabled worker will go from $1,006 to $1,064.In addition to the cost of living adjustment, the government announced Thursday that the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax will increase next year to $106,800, up from $102,000 this year.The increase would have been even higher, but after racing ahead earlier in the year, energy costs fell in both August and September, helping to moderate the overall price gain.The 5.8% rise in the cost of living adjustment is a sharp departure from recent years. The COLAincreases have been below 3 percent in 12 of the past 15 years. Even with the big increase, the COLA is well below the gains of the late 1970s and early 1980s when the country went through a ten year period of high inflation. The biggest cost of living benefit on record was a 14.3% increase in 1980. Social Security benefits have been adjusted every year since 1975.In another piece of good news, Social Security indicated that the monthly premiums for Medicare Part B (physician services) will not go up. The bad news is the Part B premium is already at $96.40 a month. Some higher income households will see an increase in their Part B premiums.