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As part of efforts to strengthen the Social Security system, Congress included the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset in the Social Security Act of 198While its intentions were noble, these changes did little to secure the Social Security system, and have instead unfairly penalized millions of public sector employees..The COLA will be announced in mid - October and the Medicare Part B premium often is announced by the end of November..It's likely the surprise billing package will be attached to the year-end government spending bill, as lawmakers attempted to do late last year, assuming they can come to an agreement by the end of the year.."We do have vaccines and therapeutics coming down the pike," Osterholm said. "But when you actually look at the time period for that, the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic."."Many older taxpayers probably did not even know they were getting a medical expense tax break for 2017, or this year," Johnson says. The 7.5 percent of AGI threshold was unchanged from what taxpayers age 65 and older paid in 2016, and before. That threshold, however, was formerly scheduled to rise to 10% of AGI in 201"Meanwhile taxpayers younger than 65 could only deduct medical expenses in excess of 10% under the former tax law, and so for that crowd it may have been noticed as a tax break," Johnson notes..About 4 million people who turn age 61 this year are in for a deep hit to their Social Security benefits when they retire. The initial retirement benefits of these individuals may be permanently reduced by about 9.1%, according to an estimate by Social Security's Chief Actuary. Without quick remedial action from Congress, the retirement benefits of people born in 1960 would be lower than the benefits of people with identical earnings and retirement histories who were born just one year prior to them. This is due to a flaw in the Social Security benefit formula..Medicare fraud, abuse, and wasteful spending are problems that continue to affect all Americans. Attorney General Eric Holder estimates that fraudulent Medicare activities cost taxpayers an estimated billion a year. The staggering figure has contributed to rising costs that are passed on to beneficiaries. Lawmakers and administrators are seeking alternative measures to reign in Medicare's out-of-control costs to seniors..Democrats have delayed the start of the program in part because of its cost and an agreement to limit the overall spending in the Biden budget bill to .5 trillion. There is some talk on Capitol Hill of offering seniors limited vouchers to use toward dental benefits before 2028 as a compromise..punitive tax penalty.