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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that the standard Medicare Part B premium will be 8.50 in 2021, an increase of .90 per month from 4.60 in 2020. That increase, which I earlier feared would be considerably more, was restricted by legislation enacted last fall. But even with legislation to keep the Medicare Part B flat, the Part B premium still went up 2.6% over 2020, twice as much as the annual cost-of-living adjustment. This trend of Medicare costs increasing several times faster than Social Security benefits creates chronic headaches for retirees, as the Medicare Part B premium consumes a growing share of Social Security benefits..When you get surgery it's often difficult to know the costs in advance. Medicare covers anesthesia provided for medically necessary inpatient or outpatient surgical procedures. But it's important to understand how services like anesthesia work because they are often billed and paid separately, and administered by specific providers who may not be affiliated with your in-network hospital or doctor's practice. In addition, billing errors frequently occur, and bills often need to be corrected and re-submitted for reimbursement. Here are some steps to take to make sure all your bills get paid..How the Categories Compare Between the CPI-W and the CPI-E.plan covers it, every year. Case in point: Using the Medicare Drug Plan finder.Can You Live On Social Security Alone?.One TSCL member Barbara B., 75 of Indiana recently told us: "It's been 36 months since I've had any raise in my net operating Social Security, but my actual household costs continue to go up. This isn't fair to retirees." Barbara, who is now 75, retired 9 years ago. Like many seniors around the country, she feels that her Social Security benefits are not keeping up with inflation..The good news is that while Covid-19 continues to kill close to 1,000 Americans a day, advances in medical care and the growing experience of doctors are improving the chances of survival for those who develop dangerous cases of the infection, according to a report in Bloomberg News..We are pleased and grateful that Rep. Grace Meng has once again introduced legislation, H.R. 3839, to remedy this situation. It would allow workers who reach age 65 after 1981 and before 1992 to choose either lump sum payments over four years totaling ,000 or an improved benefit computation formula under a new 10-year rule governing the transition to the changes in benefit computation rules enacted in the Social Security Amendments of 1977..If you've been to a pharmacy in recent years, you've no doubt noticed how drug costs are soaring - and you've probably felt the immense financial pressure of rising prices. You've also probably thought about how it is that consumers are burdened with the pain of these higher costs while the drug industry simultaneously rakes in massive profits with little to no accountability.