Senate Committee Questions HHS Nominee.My doctor prescribed a new drug but, when I tried to fill it the first time, I learned that my drug plan does not cover it. The drug cost close to 0 dollars and I could not afford that! What can I do?.While seniors with Medicare aren't required to have an Obamacare health plan, they have worries too. Obamacare cut Medicare by more than 0 billion over ten years, and that's starting to impact seniors age 65 and older. In particular, the law cut reimbursements to Medicare Advantage plans by 6 billion..Early last year, prior to even knowing the impact of the pandemic, the Social Security Trustees forecast that the financing of the Social Security Trust Funds would turn negative this year. The Social Security Trustees forecast that the Social Security retirement and survivors trust fund would receive a total of 5.6 billion in 2021 but estimated that program costs would be more than ,019.2 billion..Fifty-six percent of all Social Security households pay taxes on their benefits. Many of them have very modest middle incomes and didn't adequately understand or plan for these taxes, which take about 6% on average of Social Security income..Prior to their recess the House of Representatives was able to pass 10 of the 12 spending bills that are needed to fund the government for fiscal year 2020. However, as has been the case for several years, the Senate lags behind. As a result, the Senate has been discussing combining various spending bills instead of passing them one by one..To do this, Larson's bill would increase the payroll tax rate gradually over 24 years through annual 0.1% increases, and it would also apply payroll taxes to all earnings instead of just the first 7,700..CPI Data Through August 2012, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 14, 201Social Security Monthly Statistical Snapshot, Social Security Administration, July, 2012..That would have allowed them to preserve what small increases are allowed in fiscal 2021 non-defense spending and spread that money elsewhere, while avoiding cuts to popular programs that would follow if they had to accommodate veterans' health cost increases as non-emergency spending. But House Republicans objected to that arrangement.
