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Like all things tax-related, it's important to estimate income accurately. Estimate too low and you may wind up having to repay those premium subsidies in higher taxes. Taking too low a subsidy may mean paying substantially more in premiums, but a bigger tax refund. If you take the tax credit in advance, changes to your income or family size could affect your health insurance subsidies and you will need to report those changes during the year. You can also opt to take a partial subsidy to both lower the premium and avoid repayments if your income fluctuates..Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced S. 62 on January 9, 201It has since been referred to the Committee on Finance..Social Security is a promise that the federal government has made to its citizens. It is a promise on which millions of Americans rely on, and one that needs to be there for them when they retire. I am proud to sponsor H.R. 141, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in any capacity available, to ensure that we keep the promises we made to our public-sector employees..Medical: Medicare recently reported the lowest growth in healthcare costs on record based on spending through 20But that's not the case for seniors. In fact, since 2000, Medicare Part B costs rose as fast as the cost of gasoline. Seniors will receive notification this month of their Medicare Part B premium for 201It's also important to check your Part D drug coverage. Medicare Part D's infamous drug coverage gap, aka the "doughnut hole," is slowly closing a widely touted benefit of the 2010 healthcare law. Several Part D costs, like the "standard" deductible, and the out-of-pocket costs thresholds, will be lower in 201But for the first time since Part D started, the initial coverage amount, the amount all seniors use when they fill a prescription, will be less generous by 0. That means you may hit the doughnut hole coverage gap sooner..The plan released this week is not expected to be adopted or even to win any bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. However, it does mark the start of the fiscal 2016 budget negotiations, and it lays out the line-by-line needs of the federal agencies for appropriators. Soon, the House and Senate Budget Committees will release their own spending blueprints for fiscal 2016, and TSCL expects to see proposals that would dramatically alter the Social Security and Medicare programs. We will keep a close eye on the negotiations as they evolve, and will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website..Under current law, the federal government matches state Medicaid spending for everyone whose income is low enough to qualify, which is tied to the federal poverty level of ,060 or ,240. Under current law, as Medicaid spending increases due to rising program costs there are no caps on what the federal government contributes. Under the House and Senate health care bills, the federal government would switch to reimbursing states using a capped amount, regardless of the actual growth in costs in a state. If costs grow faster states would have to make up the difference..An insurance industry source said Congress' deliberations are "freaking out" companies who worry that seniors will drop their private plans en masse and migrate to traditional Medicare once the new benefits are in place. But the source said the industry is mindful of the optics of publicly opposing coverage of eyeglasses, dental care and hearing aids, and is largely lobbying behind the scenes..Social Security Notch Reform Working towards benefit equality for older Americans..With the cash deficits of the disability trust fund growing and with the trust fund's projected insolvency in 2018, something will need to be done about the disability program, and soon.