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Over the past decade, there has been no COLA at all three times - in 2010, 2011, and 201In 2017 the COLA was just 0.03%. The 2021 COLA of 1.3% is one of the lowest COLAs ever paid. TSCL feels this is a clear sign that the inflation adjustment for Social Security benefits is failing the very people it was designed to protect..The less painful alternatives are: bringing new state and local workers into the Social Security system, gradually raising the payroll tax cap to its originally intended level, and raising the retirement age..Only last year the Comptroller General of the United States, David Walker, warned Congress about this very thing saying, "Doing nothing, means that we are going to head to a precipitous decline in benefits. Remember the Notch Baby problem? This would be a Notch Baby problem magnified multiple times and it should not be allowed to happen.".Medicare Advantage plan cuts. So far, seniors have not been widely affected by cuts to Medicare Advantage plans, but many of the changes in reimbursements to plans have not yet taken effect. TSCL remains concerned that the reimbursement cuts would cause plans to drop extra benefits like eyeglasses and hearing aids that they now provide. Of greater concern is whether plan payments will be adequate for insurers to maintain their contracts with Medicare to provide services. When Congress cut plan payments too deeply in the past, insurers pulled out of markets all over the United States, leaving millions of seniors scrambling to find another health plan - most often at higher out-of-pocket cost..Prohibiting DI and Unemployment Insurance "double-dipping." No laws currently exist to prevent individuals from receiving both disability and unemployment benefits at the same time, even though eligibility rules for the two programs are mutually exclusive. Prohibiting "double-dipping" is a sensible step forward that would save nearly billion over 10 years..That fear comes from the fact that some of those same lawmakers who are demanding action on the bipartisan infrastructure bill ahead of the reconciliation package have also expressed misgivings with taking on drug-pricing changes without Republican support..One of my bills would also increase insurance options for older Americans who are not yet age 6While the Affordable Care Act has greatly expanded insurance coverage, and limited insurers' ability to charge older Americans higher premiums, we can do a lot more to increase options and affordability. My Medicare-X Choice Act would expand on the Medicare framework to create a new public insurance plan for people of all ages..The threat among seniors of going without nourishing meals, especially those who are older and depend on Social Security for the majority of their income, like many Notch Babies, is very real. In addition to the cognitive and health problems that interfere with good nutrition as seniors age, the national median income of people over 65 is only ,75About one-in-seven seniors has little money left over for food after paying basic monthly expenses like housing, utility, and healthcare costs..TSCL enthusiastically supports H.R. 1776, and we were pleased to see support grow for it this week. For more information, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website.