Millions of Social Security Beneficiaries Still Waiting on $1,400 Covid-19 Relief Payments

The IRS announced this week that 30 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries who are not required to file income taxes will receive their relief payments from the American Rescue Plan on April 7.

The bureaucratic delay has caused concern and anger and is a result of the Social Security Administration (SSA), led by Trump-appointed Commissioner Andrew Saul, not providing the IRS with names of beneficiaries in a timely manner. 

“It is good that these payments are finally on the way, but the delay is unacceptable,” said Robert Roach, Jr., President of the Alliance. “These beneficiaries were counting on the payments and have been left hanging for weeks. The SSA leadership has a lot to answer for.” 

Biden Unveils $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan, Including Vast Expansion of Long Term Care

manufacturing, making key investments in elder care and housing, and creating hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs. It also calls on Congress to pass the PRO Act, which makes it easier for workers to join or form a union.

The American Jobs Plan includes around $400 billion to expand home health care and services for seniors and the disabled and to increase wages and benefits for caregiving workers. If enacted, hundreds of thousands more Americans will receive the long-term care and services they need at home, rather than an institution.

The plan is paid for in part by increasing the corporate tax rate to 28%. The 2017 Republican tax plan slashed the amount corporations pay in taxes to historically low levels.

“The bold plan President Biden announced will create millions of good-paying jobs, strengthen retirement security, and make critical investments in our nation’s infrastructure and economy," said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance. "It also advances the President’s goal of providing support to the most vulnerable Americans and their caregivers.”

"We call on Congress to quickly take action on the President’s plan so we can build a stronger future for all Americans,” he added.

Infrastructure Plan Could Also Include Medicare Expansion

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, says he intends to add a Medicare plan to the American Jobs Act bill.  It would force Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices with drug corporations and use the savings to lower Medicare's eligibility age from 65 to 55 or 60 years old and add coverage for dental, vision and hearing.

“Requiring Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and expanding health care services has been an Alliance priority for more than a decade,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “If we can achieve these goals through the jobs and infrastructure bill, we should.”

KHN: ‘Incredibly Concerning’ Lawsuit Threatens Free Preventive Care for Millions

By Harris Meyer, Kaiser Health News

With a challenge to the Affordable Care Act still pending at the Supreme Court, conservatives are continuing to launch legal attacks on the law, including a case in which a Texas federal judge seems open to ending the requirement that most Americans must receive preventive services like mammograms free of charge.

Businesses and individuals challenging the ACA’s first-dollar coverage mandate for preventive services have legal standing and legitimate constitutional and statutory grounds to proceed with their lawsuit to overturn it, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled late last month in Fort Worth. O’Connor, who previously found the entire ACA to be unconstitutional, denied most of the federal government’s motion to dismiss the case, Kelley v. Azar.

The plaintiffs cite religious and free-market objections to the ACA requirement in their class action suit against the government seeking to halt enforcement of the requirement.

The ACA requires most private individual and group health plans and some Medicaid programs to cover recommended preventive services for adults and children without charging deductibles or copayments. Medicare’s preventive care benefits also were enhanced.

These changes have made it more affordable for Americans to get a wide range of services, such as cancer screenings, contraception, HIV prevention drugs, vaccines, tobacco cessation treatment, alcohol abuse counseling and domestic violence counseling.

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