Investigate national and community charitable programs and organizations. An excellent guide to Prescription Drug Assistance Programs is available from The American Cancer Society. Even if you don't have cancer, the information is pertinent to all drug assistance programs. For more information call or download the publication..A survey conducted by TSCL earlier this year found that 73 percent of people responding strongly oppose a widely debated proposal to cut benefits by switching to a more slowly-growing COLA index. Sixty-five percent, however, strongly favor raising the taxable maximum income cap and requiring high income workers with wages of more than 7,000 to pay taxes on all earnings..But in 2020 COVID-19 dramatically proved Flo wrong. It took the pandemic to demonstrate what our nation can achieve when our government gets into the medicine cabinet and "partners" with drug manufacturers. We witnessed the record setting development and production of not just of one, but multiple, life-saving new vaccines from several pharmaceutical manufacturers..Illegal immigrants get jobs using counterfeit, invalid, and stolen Social Security numbers that employers use to withhold payroll taxes and report earnings to the Social Security Administration. Immigration advocates argue that unauthorized workers have little chance of collecting benefits. "That changes once those workers gain a valid Social Security number," Hyland says. Social Security Administration policy allows noncitizens who have evidence of earnings under invalid Social Security numbers, to claim and reinstate those earnings for use in determining entitlement once they obtain a valid Social Security number. The earnings are then used to determine the initial retirement benefit amount..Representative John Larson introduced H.R. 860 on January 30, 201It has since been referred to the Committee on Ways and Means..A push in the House to give legal status to illegal immigrants is reviving some movement toward immigration legislation this year. But the effort is running into outspoken opposition, including that from TSCL's grass roots senior members and supporters. At issue is whether undocumented immigrants, who have used fraudulent Social Security numbers to get jobs, would be allowed to claim Social Security payments based on earnings under those numbers..Yet in deficit reduction negotiations over the past two years, both President Obama and Congressional budget negotiators proposed cutting the growth in annual cost–of–living adjustments and several Medicare measures that would increase beneficiaries' out-of-pocket costs, like higher deductibles, and new co-pays, over the same time. "Making beneficiaries pay more for their Medicare, with less income, simply isn't feasible for a large percentage of today's older Americans," says Cates. "TSCL believes that Congressional candidates could face pushback from concerned senior voters in upcoming elections," he adds..Shop your local farmers' markets, and growers. Until you've sampled just - picked local fruits and vegetables, you really haven't tasted produce at its peak. Not only will you find better quality and better tasting produce, often grown organically, you'll find better prices too, especially when there's a glut and the grower has limited storage space. August, for example, is your best time to stock up on tomatoes, beans, corn, squash, cucumbers, peppers, melons and eggplant..At this point in time, it remains unclear whether congressional leaders will bring the "Budget for a Brighter American Future" to the floor for a vote, but the resolution does clearly outline the policy priorities of the majority party in the House. The Senior Citizens League will keep a close eye on the movement of the budget resolution in the weeks ahead, and we will continue to voice our opposition to policies that would jeopardize the health and financial security of older Americans. For progress updates, follow TSCL on Twitter or visit the Legislative News section of our website.