"New survey data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services found 21% of beneficiaries reported forgoing health care due to the pandemic, while 46% reported feeling more stressed and anxious..Congress recently took action to head off a looming 19% cut in Social Security disability benefits received by nearly 10.8 million disabled adults and their dependents. The Social Security Disability Insurance trust fund was projected to run low of funds by the end of 2016, but changes contained in the recent debt limit budget deal include a number of provisions to strengthen program financing. Many of them had the support of TSCL..The program will ship roughly one million doses per week to about 6,500 pharmacies across the U.S. as a trial run, beginning Feb. 1They also will boost shipments to states by 5% to 10.5 million doses per week, up from the 10 million doses that were announced a week earlier..New IRS medical expense rules for people age 65 and over reduce the amount of medical expenses you can deduct for the 2017 tax year. In 2017, you or - you and your spouse - can deduct the amount of unreimbursed allowable medical expenses that is more than 10% of your adjusted gross income. Last year people over the age of 65 were allowed to deduct medical expenses that were over 7.5% of the AGI..On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy met with four expert witnesses to discuss several options for strengthening the Social Security Program. Chairman Sherrod Brown opened the hearing by saying, "A few years ago … all of the conventional Washington wisdom was that we would have to cut the program. Today, not only are cuts to Social Security deeply unpopular, but we are now debating how much we need to expand the program.".Nearly twenty new initiatives were revealed at Monday's conference. In his speech, President Obama announced one that will encourage workers to save more for retirement by helping states create new workplace-based savings opportunities. Currently, around one-third of all employees do not have access to a workplace retirement plan. The initiative announced on Monday will "provide a clear path forward for states to create retirement savings programs" by the end of this year, President Obama said..To fix this, I've introduced the FAIR Generics Act, which would stop pay-for-delay deals once and for all. Doing so would make high-quality, lower-priced generic prescription medications available to patients sooner, thus lowering prescription drug prices in numerous cases..Rep. Allyson Schwartz introduced H.R. 574 on February 6, 201It has since been referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and to the Committee on Ways and Means where it awaits further action..Many of TSCL's supporters are older and less affluent. And some of them are "Notch Victims," individuals who receive lower Social Security benefits because they were born between the years of 1917 and 1926.
