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This week, one new cosponsor Rep. David Loebsack signed on to the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act, bringing the cosponsor total up to twenty-two. If signed into law, H.R. 1030 would adopt the CPI-E for the purpose of calculating Social Security cost-of-living adjustments. Currently, COLAs are based upon the way young, urban workers spend their money a method that underestimates the spending inflation seniors experience. H.R. 1030 would address this issue, resulting in more fair and accurate COLAs for seniors..The standard monthly Medicare Part B premium, which covers doctors and outpatient services, will increase by .10 from 5.50 in 2019, to 4.60 in 2020. At the same time, the COLA will increase an average Social Security benefit of ,460 by only .40. After deduction for the Part B premium, that would leave just .30 per month for someone with average benefits to cover all other rising costs, including other rising Medicare premiums for prescription drugs or supplemental coverage..So, we wanted to close this week's update with some good news, as reported by Bloomberg News..AHCA Advances Through House.TSCL continues to fight the agreement and supports measures that would block it from taking effect should it be sent to Congress for approval. TSCL continues to educate new lawmakers about the issue and recently filed a third Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to force the U.S. government to release documents related to the agreement, include those concerning the estimated cost to the Social Security Trust Fund..Our voices and our votes collectively are how we counteract all the money the drug companies throw around to influence Congress.."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..Ending the payroll tax, "would end Social Security as we now know it - as an 'earned' benefit that people pay for with taxes based on their wages," Johnson says. "If Social Security were funded out of general revenues instead, the program would be more like welfare - subject to the annual appropriations process, and the funding or repeal whims of Congress," she says..Berna Heyman, a retired librarian who has Wilson Disease testified how she was a victim of obscene price gouging. Her annual co-pay for the drug Syprine rose from 0 in 2013 to ,000 in 2014, with her drug plan paying over 0,000. When she and her doctor applied for Valeant pharmaceutical's patient assistance program, she was denied financial assistance from the manufacturer because she was on Medicare.