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In making the 1977 changes, Congress, wanting to avoid an abrupt change, allowed persons born from 1917 through 1921 to use a special transitional benefit formula or the new 1977 formula, whichever would yield the higher of the two benefits. The transition benefit formula never delivered the promised benefit protection, however, because it did not yield a higher benefit amount. Instead, the new benefit formula most often yielded the higher amount..In a controversial political maneuver, Members of the House passed a bill on Friday that would keep federal agencies funded through December 15th, but withdraw spending for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The bill is now in the hands of the Senate, where leaders will likely attempt to strip it of the language that defunds the health care law. When asked how he plans to move forward with the House bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "Any bill that defunds Obamacare is dead. It's a waste of time." The bill has also received numerous veto threats from the White House..Senate Returns to Washington."The combination of lower benefits and higher expenses in recent years means many more seniors are already struggling to make ends meet," said Larry Hyland, chairman of The Senior Citizens League. "We agree that Social Security must be reformed in order.Johnson compiled a list of ten of the fastest-rising retiree costs based on Consumer Price Index data from October 2017 through October 2018..Barbara, who is now 75, retired 9 years ago. In 2009, the first year after starting benefits, she received a 5.8% COLA and the Part B premium stayed the same as the year before. But in the following 8 years, COLAs dropped to record lows, averaging just 1.1% per year over the entire period..The record low COLAs in recent years that haven't stopped politicians in Washington from proposing more reductions by using the more slowly- growing "chained" CPI, to calculate COLAs. According to TSCL's online "Chained COLA" calculator, over the first 10 years alone a ,000 per month benefit would lose about ,555 in growth under the proposal.."Beneficiaries were increasingly able to use technology to bridge the care gap. Fifty-eight percent said their provider offers both phone and video appointments..Upon introducing the bill, Rep. Schiff said, "We must work to ensure that public employees, just like retirees who have private pensions, receive the full Social Security benefits to which they are entitled. We have a responsibility to our educators, police officers, and fire fighters to act now to repeal these inequitable provisions, and ensure that hard work for the public good is justly compensated, even in retirement."