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"There appears to be a broad agreement on the types of healthcare policies that should be in the package, like closing the Medicaid coverage gap and adding dental and vision benefits to Medicare, but details are still being ironed out by committee staff and congressional offices and nothing is certain.".Despite the coronavirus emergency, The Senior Citizens League is continuing its fight for you to protect your Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits. We've had to make some adjustments in the way we carry on our work, but we have not, and will not stop our work on your behalf..On Wednesday, the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee met to discuss reform of the Medicare physician payment system with a panel of five experts. The hearing, entitled "Using Innovation to Reform Medicare Physician Payment," focused on ideas from the private sector..The good news is that in the years following attaining full retirement age, you may earn as much as you want without reduction to your benefits..Does the Start of Obamacare Affect Me?.The 3.8% "Medicare" net investment tax has never been received by the Medicare Part A Trust Fund, but has wound up going straight into the U.S. General Fund. That means it could be appropriated for any government spending!.Medicare Advantage plans are popular in many areas of the country for low, monthly premiums, having an annual out-of-pocket maximum, and for offering supplemental benefits not currently covered by Medicare, such as dental and vision coverage. Most Medicare Advantage plans also provide prescription drug benefits..This new data strengthens the argument that focusing on negotiating prices for the relatively small number of drugs that make up a disproportionately large amount of Medicare spending could help reduce the costs of prescription drugs to Medicare and the patients who use them..In fact, unlike the surtax on high earners, this 3.8% net investment tax was not even a specific provision of Affordable Care Act. It was a provision of a separate bill, the Health Care Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010 which was passed about two days after the Affordable Care Act. By setting up the revenues so that they would flow to the General Fund, Congress by-passed earmarking those revenues for the Medicare Part A or Part B Trust Fund. That also means that, when those revenues are used for other purposes, the Medicare Trust Funds are not earning any interest from the federal government for the use of those funds.