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I'll always have the backs of our seniors, and I will ensure you all have the help you need and to protect against those who seek to take advantage of you. We all know this is going to take a fight. I'm hopeful that, with the Senior Security Act, we will help create real and lasting change, and I will be here, fighting by your side, every step of the way..This week, action on Capitol Hill slowed down as the House of Representatives adjourned for a holiday recess, and the Senate focused on legislation to reauthorize programs within the FDA. Meanwhile, TSCL expressed support for a new House resolution, introduced by Rep. Scott Rigell..Consumption of fried foods has also been linked to diabetes and high blood pressure..If adopted, it would cut .9 trillion from the deficit over the next ten years by implementing a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, around 5 billion of which would come from the health sector. Several proposed changes to the Medicare program are included in the package, including one important measure that would allow the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate prices for high-cost drugs on behalf of Medicare Part D beneficiaries. Doing so would save billions of dollars each year..Addressing the Part A shortfall will be particularly difficult and contentious for everyone. To bring greater solvency to the HI trust fund, lawmakers will be faced with the politically unpalatable choices of reducing Medicare spending, which could include requiring that Medicare recipients pay more for their coverage and increasing the tax revenues received by Medicare. Congress last addressed Medicare Part A finances in the 2010 Affordable Care Act which, among other things, required hospitals to become more efficient in their delivery of care, while requiring that higher income workers pay a higher Medicare payroll tax rate..Get the Seasonal Flu Vaccine but Not Just Yet.Social Security beneficiaries receive a small automatic increase in their Social Security checks most years, intended to help their benefits keep up with rising costs. But since 2000, COLAs increased benefits a total of just 43 percent while typical senior expenses have jumped 86%. When costs climb more rapidly than benefits, retirees must spend down retirement savings more quickly than expected, and those without savings or other retirement income are either going into debt, or going without..This may be difficult to believe, but consumer price index data suggests that the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2020 could be close to zero next year - a mere 0.5 percentage point. This comes even as the costs of goods and services used by retirees are shooting upward according to responses to TSCL's 2019 Senior Survey..This cost shift hits includes retirees with the lowest incomes. Specifically it hits their state Medicaid budgets that pay Part B premiums for low-income Medicare beneficiaries - about 19% of all Medicare recipients. If Medicare Part B premiums go up by more than .40 per month in 2021, that would add yet another fiscal shock to state budgets that are already strained to the limit due to the coronavirus pandemic.