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A ,000 per month budget for medical expenses is a staggering amount to consider. Retirees with the highest costs are not only those with multiple health conditions, but also frequently those who don't have access to employer provided health insurance benefits. This group also includes those who don't have access to competitively priced Medicare Advantage Plans, and therefore pay higher premium costs for Medigap and Part D plans..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..TSCL will watch closely to see what, if anything, is introduced in Congress to boost Social Security payments for seniors and we will keep you posted as things move forward..The federal government negotiates prescription drug prices for Medicaid enrollees and for veterans, but it is not allowed to negotiate lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. Do you support this policy?.Last week President Trump announced he will once again ask Congress to pass more economic stimulus legislation that he insists must include a payroll tax cut. In other words, he wants to cut the amount of money that is paid into Social Security and Medicare by today's workers the money that funds the checks sent out to those who receive payments and pays for the health care of seniors each month..TSCL is highly concerned about the Totalization Agreement since it would likely add billions in costs to Social Security and drain Social Security benefits from American citizens who retire in the future. The Agreement would also increase exponentially the number of foreign workers claiming Social Security benefits. Social Security law currently allows non-citizens, who at some point obtain work authorization and a valid Social Security number, to claim benefits. Under current policy, Social Security uses all earnings regardless of a workers' legal status at the time the work was performed, to determine entitlement to benefits - including earnings while working illegally in the U.S. Such work could have been done while using an invalid or even fraudulent Social Security number. Several Members of Congress have introduced legislation that would prevent the Totalization Agreement from moving forward and that would give Congress more oversight over Totalization agreements with other nations. In addition, anti-Totalization legislation opposes Social Security benefits going to those who worked in the United States while illegal..Based on consumer price index data through May of this year, TSCL's Social Security policy analyst and study author, Mary Johnson, estimates that the COLA for 2018 may indeed be significantly higher than in recent years - around 1.9% - 2.1% - but that could change since there are still several months to go before the COLA is announced in October..In the meantime, to comply with the new health law, people need to continue to maintain health insurance or pay a fine, because the individual mandate is still in place. And unless Congress acts to repeal Obamacare in its entirety, insurers will still be required to provide coverage despite pre-existing conditions. The big question remains, however, how millions of people will be able to afford Obabmacare coverage if no subsidies are available..TSCL believes that legislative changes that would switch to the chained CPI and cut COLAs will be a key feature of deficit reduction talks and plans that become public after the November elections. You can help! Sign TSCL's Social Security Fairness Petition online or call to have a petition mailed to you.