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TSCL is adamantly opposed to "Chaining the COLA" and continues to fight it. TSCL is gathering the signatures of thousands of seniors. Should the plan achieve passage, TSCL is prepared to lead a national repeal campaign of the same kind that resulted in the immediate repeal of "Medicare Catastrophic" in the late 1980s. To sign a petition or to learn how you can take part in our campaign, visit TSCL on the web at..Enrollment in the demonstration program far exceeds early target of 1–2 million beneficiaries set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. If all 26 state proposals are approved, approximately 3 million dual–eligible beneficiaries, about 40 percent of seniors who receive both Medicare and Medicaid, would be automatically enrolled into new managed–care plans..It's helpful to think of age 70 as the retirement age to get the maximum benefit that you are entitled to. Not only does your benefit grow 8% per year, but the additional years of work could potentially boost the amount of your initial retirement benefit. By continuing to work you also give yourself more time to contribute to retirement accounts and pay off home mortgages, and you reduce the length of time or amount you will need to withdraw from your retirement accounts. That can make a big difference on how well you can live and thrive in retirement..When President Obama announced his massive immigration executive action last fall, a White House fact sheet said the actions would "expand the country's tax base by millions of people and billions of dollars." Then in a plainly self-contradictory statement, the fact sheet goes on to say that many of the 5 million individuals who would be eligible for work authorization and deportation protection "are already in the workforce contributing federal, state, and local taxes. But roughly two-third of them don't pay taxes today." The White House thus implies that executive action would add solvency to the program, because most of the people it affects aren't paying taxes into the program today..TSCL polls indicate that a wide majority of older Americans are opposed to this policy. TSCL strongly supports legislation that would ban the use of earnings under invalid and fraudulent Social Security numbers from being used to determine benefits..The 2017 tax law contained a provision for all taxpayers, that temporarily increased the deduction for qualified medical expenses. Taxpayers are allowed to deduct qualified medical expenses in excess of 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income for the 2017 and 2018 tax years. In 2019, the threshold will become less generous for all taxpayers, rising to the excess over 10 percent of AGI..That is not as easy as it might seem but if they Senate is able to accomplish that whatever it passes must then go to a House/Senate conference committee which will have to come up with one bill that must then go back to each house and pass before it goes to the President for his signature. With just three work weeks left before October 1 it will have to be a marathon if they are to finish their work on time..Apply for pharmacy assistance programs from your drug manufacturer. Medicare maintains a list of pharmacy assistance programs by drug name. Click here to learn if there is a program for your drug..The record low COLAs in recent years that haven't stopped politicians in Washington from proposing more reductions by using the more slowly- growing "chained" CPI, to calculate COLAs. According to TSCL's online "Chained COLA" calculator, over the first 10 years alone a ,000 per month benefit would lose about ,555 in growth under the proposal.