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Retirees are rightfully anxious about financing healthcare in retirement. Some retirement experts estimate that a 65 - year - old couple who retired in 2016 would need 0,000 for medical expenses throughout retirement and 0,000 if you include the costs of long-term care..The age at which individuals become eligible for full, un-reduced Social Security benefits is rising. Your full retirement age is based on the year when you were born and, for people born in 1960 and later, the full retirement age is 6The earliest age at which you can claim a retirement benefit is 6However, claiming benefits prior to your full retirement age comes with expensive trade-offs. It's unlikely to be your best choice if your aim is to maximize your retirement income over the long haul..Since 2009 the COLA was zero in 2010, 2011, and 2016, and only 0.3 percent in 201Since 2010, the COLA has averaged just 1.2 percent, compared to the prior decade, 2000 through 2009, when the COLA averaged 4 percent..The Health Subcommittee focused on three specific Medicare proposals that President Obama included in his fiscal 2014 budget: establishing a home health copay, increasing the annual Part B deductible, and increasing means-testing measures for Parts B and D. Most Subcommittee Members, along with the expert panel, expressed their disapproval of all three options, stating that they would simply shift costs to seniors instead of targeting the root of the problem. Instead, many suggested that they focus on reforming the delivery system to better reward quality medical care..So far critics of the program have not convinced CMS to pare down the size of the demonstrations and states winning approval will get the green light to start shifting patients into managed care plans starting next year..These three-decade-old policies have been proven to be harmful and unhelpful, which is why I introduced H.R. 141, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2019, which will eliminate these counterproductive policies. Nationwide, nearly 1.5 million people are affected by the WEP, meaning those who receive a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security see those benefits reduced. For example, a teacher who spends his or her summers working a second job, or a first responder who leaves the force after years of service, but is not ready to retire, can see their benefits reduced by as much as 40 percent..About four million seniors born from 1917 through 1926, commonly referred to as "Notch Babies," would receive their choice of a ,000 lump-sum payable in four annual installments, or higher monthly Social Security benefits. The legislation, known as "The Notch Fairness Act" seeks to correct a disparity in benefits caused the last time Congress overhauled the benefit formula in 1977, that began to affect seniors who started to retire just two years later..Congress should enact legislation that would prohibit the use of work credits based on unauthorized earnings from being used to determine entitlement for Social Security benefits..The opinions expressed in "Congressional Corner" reflect the views of the writer and are not necessarily those of TSCL.