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According to the Congressional Research Service, older noncitizens who were assigned a Social Security number before January 1, 2004, are not required to have ever received authorization to work in the United States at any point to qualify for Social Security benefits. In other words, those individuals may have worked illegally their entire career and may still file a claim for Social Security, and all their illegal earnings will be counted..On behalf of the Board of Trustees and all TSCL members, we would like to send a hearty "thank-you," to the Members of Congress and their staff for meeting with us..Medicare fraud, waste, and abuse costs about billion a year. What type of measures do you support to put a stop to this loss of Medicare finances?.The survey, which was conducted from mid - January to mid-February of this year, asked the following "How has the coronavirus - caused recession affected the value of your retirement savings as of December 31, 2020?" Some 18 percent of survey participants reported that they had no retirement savings at all. Of those with retirement savings, 48 percent reported that the value of their retirement savings was still down on December 31, 2020 from the ending value on December 31, 201Thirty-one percent reported that their savings had recovered to about the same value as on December 31, 201Only 22 percent reported that their savings had increased by December 31, 2020. Of this group, only 9 percent said their savings had increased by more than 10 percent..In 2010, 2011, and 2016 there was no COLA payable at all and, in 2017, the COLA was just 0.03 percent. Likewise, in 2018, the COLA was 2 percent, but rising Part B premiums consumed the entire increase for roughly half of all beneficiaries..Fall Congressional Recess Continues.A growing number of Medicare beneficiaries are choosing to receive their coverage through private Medicare Advantage plans, rather than traditional Medicare with a Medigap supplement and Part D plan. The choice requires careful evaluation of costs and an understanding of how the prospective Medicare Advantage works, because once you give up your Medigap plan, you probably won't be able to get another one, or if you do, you could be charged significantly more. No matter what you decide, you will still be required to pay the Part B premium..TSCL enthusiastically supports the Strengthening Social Security Act since it would extend the solvency of the Trust Fund responsibly, while also making benefits for seniors more fair and accurate. We look forward to working with Sen. Harkin and Reps. Sanchez and Holt in the coming months to help build support for their bill.."The government now finds itself trying to figure out how to satisfy patients who desperately need help, even though scientists think this particular treatment lacks strong evidence for its effectiveness and policy experts warn it is setting up a budgetary nightmare for Medicare in the future."