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Introduced by Reps. Linda Sanchez and Tom Reed, the bill would provide up to ,000 in a family caregiver tax credit. Expenses like groceries, modifications to a home, transportation to a doctors' visits, or hiring someone to look after an elderly patient or disabled child would qualify for the credit. "A caregiving credit would be a much needed help," says Susan. "It would benefit me and benefit a lot of other older families that I work with," she says..Rep. Rodney Davis.Although Medicare has an annual Open Enrollment period, when beneficiaries can compare drug plans and switch to lower costing drug plans, few retirees actually do so. "In most areas of the country, the Medicare beneficiaries have more than two dozen Part D plans to sort through, and the average person just don't know where to begin, or that free, unbiased help is available," Johnson says. "Consequently, Medicare beneficiaries winds up overpaying for prescriptions that could be obtained for a lower cost from a different drug plan.".The difference in drug prices between the lowest and highest costing plans, can be in the hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars. For brand name and specialty drugs, the most frequent reason that the drug costs so much more in the highest costing plan is lack of coverage. The drug is not listed on the high cost plan's formulary. For example, the lowest cost plan for Sovaldi, a drug used to treat Hepatitis C, charges ,600 in co-insurance. The highest cost drug plan charges 0,800, the full cost of the drug, because Sovaldi is not on the plan's formulary..It also depends on the willingness of the American people to get the vaccine shot. Right now, there seems to be a reluctance among people because of, among other things, the uncertainty about the safety of a vaccine that has been rushed to market. It is a special concern for seniors because they do not often respond as well to medicines, including vaccines, as younger people do..Increase the payroll taxable maximum to cover all earnings. Currently high - income workers pay no Social Security taxes on earnings over 8,500. That means someone earning 0,000 stopped paying Social Security taxes at the end of March while middle and low - income earners continue to pay Social Security taxes on all their earnings, all year long. This one change alone would bolster both the disability and retirement program for decades to come..them completed about 30 days BEFORE the annual fall Medicare Part D Open.For roughly 10 million older Americans who have been retired since 2000, the buying power of their Social Security benefits only 'improved' by a meager 1 percent, from a loss of 34 percent over the period 2000 to 2018 to a loss of 33 percent from 2000- 201The loss occurred even though beneficiaries received a 2.8 percent annual cost - of - living adjustment for 2019..The federal government negotiates prescription drug prices for Medicaid and for veterans, but it is barred from negotiating lower prices for Medicare beneficiaries. As a result, senior citizens enrolled in Part D often pay much higher prices for their prescriptions. What are you doing to correct this unfair policy?