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If you find yourself in the situation where it's getting difficult to afford your prescriptions, Medicare has a program known as "Extra Help," that pays for some or even most of your out-of-pocket drug costs. You qualify if your monthly income is less than ,538 for individuals or ,078 for couples, and your assets are lower than the specified amount :.CMS plans to automatically enroll the seniors in participating states with an "opt-out" provision. But TSCL has concerns as to whether beneficiaries will be able to choose the best form of care and how they would be able to switch plans or return to traditional Medicare..For those who are "social butterflies," this is extremely hard. For those who do not have a problem being by themselves, maybe not so much..Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage hit a new milestone this year. The highly - loathed "doughnut hole" or "coverage gap" closed this year. But that doesn't mean prescriptions will be free. The co-insurance in the former Part D doughnut hole dropped to 25% of all drug costs. That's the good news. But the out of pocket spending that's required to qualify for catastrophic drug coverage took a big jump, from ,100 in 2019, to ,350 an increase of ,250. That's the biggest jump in the out-of-pocket threshold since the start of Part D in 2006..table-2.The U.S. Supreme Court decision on immigration has significant consequences for Social Security and Medicare, says a recent report by The Senior Citizens League. "President Obama's executive actions on immigration would have provided long - term access to Social Security and Medicare benefits for people who worked in this country illegally, even though the newly - issued green cards are only temporary," says TSCL Chairman Ed Cates.visiting the government's National Clearinghouse for Long Term Care Information.Efforts are quietly underway to lay the groundwork for a far-reaching fiscal deal that involves Social Security cost-of-living adjustments and Medicare benefits. White House officials and Senate Republicans have met in a series of private sessions in recent months. In his fiscal year 2014 budget, President Obama proposed reducing the growth in COLAs as well as raising Medicare premiums, reducing benefits of higher income seniors and increasing the Medicare eligibility age. Everything is still on the table, the pressure point being the debt limit. The government is expected to hit the debt limit ceiling the statutory borrowing limit - sometime this fall..Legislation is currently under consideration in the House, The Social Security 2100 Act, that would adjust the income thresholds that subject Social Security benefits to taxation, from ,000 to ,000 for single filers and from ,000 to 0,000 for joint filers. According to a survey by The Senior Citizens League, 55 percent of survey participants support lifting the threshold for taxation of Social Security benefits to those levels, and only 12 percent oppose. The bill would pay for this as well as providing a boost in Social Security benefits and a more generous cost-of-living adjustment, by increasing the amount of wages subject to payroll taxes and by very gradually increasing the tax rate that workers and employers pay.