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The U.S. House and Senate adjourn at the end of July for a six-week summer recess, and many lawmakers will hold town hall meetings in their home states and districts throughout the month of August. The Senior Citizens League encourages Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries like you to attend these events and to ask important questions of your elected officials about your earned benefits..On the other hand under Medicaid, net drug prices are heavily influenced by two rebates that are required by law. Manufacturers of brand name drugs must pay a rebate equal to 23.1% of the average price that manufacturers charge to pharmacies. In addition, for generics, manufacturers are required to pay a rebate of 13% of the average price they charge to pharmacies..It's about time. At the time of its passage, the Affordable Care Act, was labeled a "Medicare" tax and sold to the public that way. Now it is needed by the Medicare Part A Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. Part A is less than five years from insolvency and faces an estimated 5 billion funding gap over the next ten years. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this tax will raise approximately .5 billion in revenue in 2021 alone..Health insurers would directly pay providers the difference between the out-of-network rate and the patient's cost-sharing amount for those services. In states that don't have their own systems, the out-of-network rate would be the amount that the provider and insurer agree to through an open negotiation process, or the amount set through an arbitration process.."The Earnings Suspense File isn't getting enough attention from Congress," says TSCL Chairman, Ed Cates. "Wages are an important indicator of the extra costs associated with immigration reform," Cates notes. Wage records are used to determine both the number of quarters worked to qualify for Social Security, and to calculate the initial benefit. The wages represented by the Earnings Suspense File would potentially form a portion of Social Security benefits for undocumented workers who later gain legal status..Consumer Reports makes a good point. When you stick with the higher costing brand, the entire cost of the drug under that plan will apply towards your initial coverage limit, pushing you toward the doughnut hole coverage gap. That raises the chance you will use up your limit before the year's end and you'll pay half the cost of the brand name drug in the doughnut hole, and 79% on any generics. You may want to ask your doctor to prescribe the generic version of the drug whenever available..For more progress updates or for more information about these issues, and other bills that would strengthen the Social Security program and make improvements to Medicare, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website or follow TSCL on Twitter..In the report released on Wednesday, the trustees estimated that Medicare beneficiaries will see a Part B premium increase of nearly per month next year, from 1.80 to However, due to the hold harmless provision, most beneficiaries will continue paying a monthly premium of 4.90. That's because experts are projecting another record-low Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 201The trustees estimated that a 0.2 percent COLA will be paid next year, which would amount to a mere per month benefit increase for someone receiving a ,000 monthly check..An ongoing study of the buying power of Social Security benefits, a special project of TSCL, has found that, since 2000, COLAs increased Social Security benefits by a total of 46%, but the typical expenses of older households grew more than twice as fast - 96.3%. For every 0 a retired household spent in 2000, the same household can only buy about worth of goods and services today.