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or the amount Medicare pays for the service. Do this before I have to nag you,.If you're like most Medicare beneficiaries, you rarely make changes to your health or drug plans, but this is one of the biggest financial mistakes you can make in retirement. Insurers make numerous changes to drug and health plans that increase your out–of–pocket costs every year. Your health changes, and the plans that once were your best deal, may be full of high cost surprises now. Every year new plans, even new plans offered by your current insurer, compete for your business by offering similar or better coverage, for lower costs. Comparing your Medicare plan coverage every year and making changes when it's in your best interest, is one of the most important financial habits to get into..During recent healthcare reform hearings, TSCL submitted a statement to the Senate HELP Committee expressing support for an emergency COLA in 20The COLA could be set high enough to cover the rise in Medicare Part B and the average rise in Part D premiums. Doing so would help prevent reductions in seniors' benefits, and a Medicare notch in premiums, and provide protection from benefits taking a big hit in buying power. TSCL believes that H.R. 3557 as introduced by Representative Walter Jones would do just that..While TSCL strongly agrees that the time has come for Congress to take action on Social Security and Medicare, we question whether rescue committees would work as desired. Over the past 25 years there have been numerous committees and commissions that developed contentious plans to change Social Security and Medicare. None have been successful in getting their plans adopted as major legislation..If your "provisional" income is over the base amount, then a portion of your Social Security benefits would be taxable. Up to 50% of your Social Security benefits are taxable if your provisional income is above ,000 to ,000 if you file singly, or above ,000 to ,000 for joint filers. If your provisional income exceeds ,000 or ,000, up to 85% of your Social Security benefits are taxable..In general, distributions from a traditional IRA are taxable in the year you receive them, although there are some exceptions. Thus you would need to figure the full amount of your distribution in figuring your provisional income..Joe sees a solution for low COLAs and Social Security's long-term solvency issues. Currently the highest paid employees, including CEO of top U.S. companies only pay Social Security taxes on the first 2,900, even when they pull in multi-million dollar salaries. "The future of Social Security would be brighter, if the taxable maximum earnings to which the Social Security payroll tax is applied would include the high earners," Joe says..During the debate over the debt limit, you undoubtedly heard the President try to scare you into believing Social Security checks would not come. Let me be blunt. The federal government takes in nearly seven times more than it needs every month to pay Social Security checks. The money was there. If checks didn't come, it would have been because the President had chosen not to pay them. You did not read that wrong. If you had not received your Social Security payment, it was because the President has directed the Secretary of the Treasury not to pay it..Majorities reported that: