Forty-one million Americans participate in Part D. Medicare should be able to negotiate drug prices on their behalf just as the VA and private insurers do. Doing so would have the potential to lower drug costs for Part D participants and save Medicare money. For these reasons, I've introduced multiple bills to end Medicare's ban on price negotiation, and have urged President Trump not to renege on his campaign pledges supporting this..New legislation retroactively extends several tax breaks that affect the amount you may deduct in unreimbursed medical expenses. The lower threshold for itemized medical expense deduction was one of the breaks extended. The threshold under the 2017 tax law was originally scheduled to rise from the excess of 7.5% of adjusted gross income to 10% of AGI for the 2019 tax year. But new legislation extended the 7.5% AGI level..Thankfully, those covered under Medicare are not as susceptible to this, although it can still happen, even when it comes to such things as dental care. Hoyer said it's "possible" the House could act on surprise billing legislation before May although he didn't definitely commit to it..According to one non-profit government watch-dog analysis, ". legislation enacted since 2015 could be responsible for more than half of the deficit in 2020 and 202In other words, recent policymakers are responsible for doubling near-term budget deficits.".Medicare Part D discounts in the "doughnut hole." Once both drug plan enrollees and their plan have spent the initial coverage amount, they reach the Part D coverage gap or "doughnut hole." Prior to the Affordable Care Act, seniors paid 100% of drug costs in the doughnut hole, unless they were covered by a plan that provided some gap coverage. Under provisions of the Affordable Care Act, once seniors hit the coverage gap, they get a 50% discount on covered brand name drugs and pay 86% of the plan's costs for covered generic drugs until they spend a total of ,700 for the year. Some plans offer additional coverage for generics during the gap..Your Social Security benefits are affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision. It affects people who have worked in jobs covered by Social Security and other jobs in which Social Security taxes were not taken out of your pay - like some government jobs, or for employers in other countries. The good news is that the WEP does not apply to survivors benefits, and because your wife worked in a private sector job that was covered by Social Security, she's not affected by the Government Pension Offset - a similar provision that reduces spouses and survivor benefits..If adopted, the Seniors Have Eyes, Ears, and Teeth Act would expand Medicare coverage to include essential hearing, vision, and dental care. Under current law, the traditional Medicare program is prohibited from covering these basic health care services, and millions of seniors living on fixed incomes cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket for routine care or assistive technologies like hearing aids..Fighting for legislation to lower the costs of prescription drugs is one of TSCL's very top priorities this year and we will keep you informed as things progress..The Social Security's Trustees annual report, which was prepared before the onset of COVID-19 and subsequent shut down of the economy, forecasts that the Social Security trust funds will be depleted by 203But a number of Social Security experts are beginning to warn that the program could run low much sooner, by as early as the end of this decade.
