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According to a March analysis of an earlier version of the bill by the CBO, the legislation would restructure Medicaid safety net by capping costs. "This would have a profound impact on low-income Medicare beneficiaries," Johnson says. About 1 in 5 people on Medicare, 11 million beneficiaries in all, have incomes so low that they qualify for Medicaid, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation..During our slow, arduous economic recovery that followed the financial crisis and recession of 2008 and 2009, many government programs, Social Security in particular, were stretched to the limit. A number that made headlines last year was the Social Security Trustees' estimate that the Social Security trust funds would run a billion cash deficit in 20Most of the time when the Social Security trust fund is referred to, we mean two trust funds - the old-age and survivor's insurance trust fund, that pays retirement and widows benefits, and the disability insurance trust fund..In the meantime, leaders in Congress are working on a plan to fund the federal government past January 19th. In a joint statement released on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said: "It is important that we achieve a two-year agreement that funds our troops and provides for our national security and other critical functions of the federal government.".What you propose is an interesting concept. It would be possible to design such cost of living adjustment option in several different ways. For example, the COLA could be calculated based on the national average retiree benefit in the current year. This amount could be adjusted using the current method the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or the use of a seniors' consumer price index such as the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly. The law could even add a provision that the COLA would never be lower than a certain amount - such as 3%.."Dying With Debt: The Hidden Financial Crisis," Steve Yoder, The Fiscal Times, June 12, 2013.Highlights of this week in Congress include: fallout from the Super Committee's indecision; leadership changes at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and a new co-sponsor added to a key bill..This week, one new cosponsor Rep. Dennis Ross signed on to Rep. Ron Paul's Social Security Preservation Act. The cosponsor total is now up to eleven..Call Congress.There's no doubt Democratic lawmakers would like to do these things because they campaigned on them last year and this would be the last chance to pass them this year. Because next year is an election year it is very unlikely any significant progress would be made then.