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Will My Social Security Benefits Be Taxable?."The world's biggest drug makers and their trade groups have cut checks to 356 lawmakers ahead of this year's election - more than two-thirds of the sitting members of Congress, according to a new STAT analysis..Budget Deal Passes With Provisions To Head Off SSDI Benefit Cut.Even though the rate of inflation is dropping, a proposal that would switch to a more slowly-growing CPI to calculate COLA continues to be pushed by proponents on both sides. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the "chained" CPI would reduce the federal budget deficit by more than 0 billion in the first ten years. It would do so by cutting the growth in a host of federal benefit programs, including military retirement in addition to Social Security, as well as increasing revenues if used to index the tax code..On Wednesday, TSCL announced its support for the Strengthening Social Security Act. Sen. Tom Harkin introduced the bill in the Senate, and Reps. Linda Sanchez and Rush Holt introduced the companion in the House. If signed into law, the bill would reform the Social Security program in three ways: it would adjust the benefit formula, resulting in more generous monthly benefits; it would adopt a Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, resulting in more accurate cost-of-living adjustments; and it would lift the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. According to Rep. Sanchez, these three changes would preserve the Social Security Trust Fund through 2049, reducing the seventy-five year actuarial deficit by approximately 50 percent..years, seniors participating in TSCL surveys say they are putting off visits to.The House will also pursue legislation to strengthen the 2010 health care law, Hoyer said. "We've already passed bills on protecting preexisting conditions, but that was a very high priority for us, and we may do something else," he said..Fewer low-income seniors would qualify for nursing home care, or would have longer "spend down" waiting periods..Yes: 13%

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When an individual files a claim for benefits, the Social Security Administration searches its records for every wage report connected with that individual to determine entitlement. The search even includes earnings from jobs worked prior to legal authorization, under fake, invalid or stolen Social Security numbers if the applicant kept evidence of such earnings like pay stubs or W2s..For the sixth consecutive year, Social Security beneficiaries will receive a cost-of-living adjustment that's a near-record low. Benefits will rise in January by a meager 1.7% after a 1.5% increase in 201In fact, inflation has been growing so slowly that the annual increase has averaged only 1.4% per year since 2010 - less than half the 3 percent average during the prior decade. In 2010 and 2011, benefits didn't increase at all, and a 1.7% increase next year won't pull up the five-year average..Then on Monday there was a report that Congressional negotiators were closing in on a government spending bill agreement after keeping the funding for Veterans Affairs Mission Act under the .4 trillion budget cap, a significant victory for the House Republicans who insisted on this provision, according to two congressional aides. … Continued

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This week, appropriators in the House and Senate continued making progress on a number of fiscal 2015 bills. Notably, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers released a plan to trim funding slightly for the contentious Labor-HHS-Education measure, which the Social Security and Medicare programs both fall under. The plan would provide 5.7 billion in funding for the measure, which is approximately billion below the current funding level..You may well find that the best way to come out ahead is to pay out-of-pocket and brush your teeth regularly at least twice a day, for a full 2 minutes. If you don't already have a regular dentist, call around to find the most reasonable fees and to see if the dental practice is willing to provide "senior" discounts. If you have good oral health and few health or dental problems, ask the dentist if you can stretch your exams out to every 9 months instead of twice a year, and space out X-rays..It remains to be seen whether Republicans in the Senate will begin working with Democrats on legislation that would stabilize the health insurance markets, or whether they will shift their focus to other legislative priorities. Following the failed vote early Friday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his colleagues: "I regret that our efforts were simply not enough … It's time to move on." … Continued