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..Social Security disability benefits are financed through the taxes paid by workers and their employers on earnings up to a cap of 7,000. Of the 6.2% that each pays, 0.9% goes to Disability Insurance and the rest goes to pay retirement and survivors benefits..Around 20% of Medicare beneficiaries are also enrolled in Medicaid and receive help from the program to cover long-term nursing home stays. The BCRA would cut Medicaid by more than 0 billion and cap federal spending on the program. How will you ensure access to nursing home care if the BCRA is adopted, and can you guarantee that older Americans will not be forced out of skilled nursing facilities due to funding cuts?.We need to work together to reduce the deficit in a balanced way, not on the backs of seniors and middle class families who have worked hard, contributed their fair share and played by the rules all their lives. I ran for Congress to fight for Illinois seniors and I'll continue to do my part to protect and preserve Medicare, so it will be strong for the working families I represent for the next forty-eight years and beyond..Extremely low Social Security cost of living adjustments have significantly impacted the retirement income of almost two-thirds of all older Americans, according to a new analysis by The Senior Citizens League. "People who have been receiving Social Security benefits since 2009 - an estimated 64 percent of all beneficiaries - have been hit with the full brunt of extremely low COLAs over the past nine years," says The Senior Citizens League's Social Security policy analyst Mary Johnson. "Nine years is about one third the length of a typical retirement," Johnson points out. "Younger retirees since 2009 are also feeling the pain," she notes..The bill caps the Part B premium increase for next year at the 2020 amount plus 25% of the difference between the 2020 amount and a preliminary amount for 202The preliminary amount would be calculated the same way that it would have been without the bill, but would prevent dramatic increases that may have occurred as a result of Medicare Part B premiums growing when the COLA is so low..According to a report from the Senate Special Committee on Aging released this year, older Americans lose approximately billion each year to financial scams and abuse. It's appalling. It's offensive. It's unacceptable. And I'm working to do something about it..Several expert witnesses such as Mr. Sanket Shah, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, emphasized the role that data analytics can have in proactively identifying patients who may be at risk for opioid addiction. Ranking Member Patty Murray said, "Data has to be easy to use, but hard to misuse," in reference to the concern that patient privacy also must be protected..The report continues, "Two House panels last week approved legislation adding vision, hearing and dental coverage to Medicare. Dental is by far the most expensive and complicated of the three to roll out: the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office previously estimated that such coverage would cost 8 billion over 10 years, compared with billion for vision and billion for hearing coverage.
