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One way to strengthen Social Security is to do what's known as "scrapping the cap." Americans only contribute to Social Security on the first 7,200 in income earned every year. That makes no sense. Why should the very wealthiest get a tax break, when nurses, electricians, and grocery store clerks pay into the system on 100 percent of their earnings? Closing this loophole would extend the program for at least another generation..On Tuesday, with a vote of 244-154, lawmakers in the Housed approved legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act's controversial Medicare cost-cutting board..The CBO option would change the taxation of Social Security to be more like distributions from defined benefit pension plans. Those distributions are fully taxable except for the portion that represents the recovery of "basis," or what an employee paid in - that is, his or her after-tax contributions to the plan. Once the recipient has recovered his or her entire "basis" all subsequent pension distributions are fully taxed..Accelerate or postpone discretionary medical expenses when feasible. The new health law reduced the amount of unreimbursed medical expenses that you can claim when itemizing the deductions. Taxpayers under the age of 65 can claim deductions for expenses that exceed 10 percent of their adjusted gross income. If you are age 65 and older you may still deduct total medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross temporarily but that ends in 201If your expenses are right on the borderline, you may want to take care of any pending medical services and appointments now, so you can boost your deduction for 201If your expenses were too low to claim the medical expense deduction for 2014, consider postponing discretionary services a few weeks into the New Year..Should Medicare change from a program that guarantees coverage for a fixed set of benefits, to one that guarantees a fixed federal payment to cover a portion of beneficiaries' healthcare expenses?.Senate Appropriators Approve Funding Bill.Changes are looming for Medicare and Social Security. Make your opinion count. Visit TSCL online at and take our monthly poll!.I remain committed to determining the causes of rising drug prices and identifying potential solutions to reduce costs for American families. Everyone deserves access to health care that will improve their lives. Health care is a right, not a privilege, and I pledge to do all I can to protect this right..insurers have hiked premiums so high that policyholders have been forced to drop