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Date Posted: January 2011.Since the Social Security Administration announced the 2013 benefit boost last fall, fuel, food and healthcare costs have steadily climbed. U.S. households that heat with oil are expected to pay nearly 20 percent more this winter compared to last year. Homes that rely on oil heat will pay an average of 7 more this winter according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration..Premium subsidies are based in part on the premiums for a current benchmark plan in the area where you live. More plans are joining the market and there will be new bids for 2015, so the benchmark in many areas will change..You would be FAR better off waiting until after you turn 66 to start benefits at your full retirement age. After reaching full retirement age, you can receive benefits and earn as much as you want with no reduction to your benefits..Rural hospitals deserve the same reimbursement rates that big city hospitals receive for providing the same treatments. Patients at rural hospitals deserve the same level of care patients receive at larger hospitals. The Rural Health Care Coalition is simply asking for a level playing field the H-CARE Act does just that..Keep working. - Unless you've got a well-padded bank account,."TSCL surveys indicate there is no support for benefit cuts among older voters," Johnson says. "We have learned, however, that there is widespread support to boost the amount of wages subject to the Social Security payroll tax, and to provide more adequate Social Security income," she says. "Raising the Social Security taxable maximum is a way to do both," she points out..Inflation data through April suggests that the annual cost-of-living adjustment for 2020 could be very low, perhaps 1.2%. Even though Social Security recipients received the highest COLA since 2012 this year - 2.8% - COLAs have averaged a meager 1.4% over the past decade. That's an unprecedented low rate of growth in Social Security benefits for an unprecedented period of time. From 1999 to 2009, COLAs averaged more than twice that rate of increase, at 3% per year..According to a March analysis of an earlier version of the bill by the CBO, the legislation would restructure Medicaid safety net by capping costs. "This would have a profound impact on low-income Medicare beneficiaries," Johnson says. About 1 in 5 people on Medicare, 11 million beneficiaries in all, have incomes so low that they qualify for Medicaid, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.