Accelerate or postpone discretionary medical expenses when feasible. The new health law reduced the amount of unreimbursed medical expenses that you can claim when itemizing the deductions. Taxpayers under the age of 65 can claim deductions for expenses that exceed 10 percent of their adjusted gross income. If you are age 65 and older you may still deduct total medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross temporarily but that ends in 201If your expenses are right on the borderline, you may want to take care of any pending medical services and appointments now, so you can boost your deduction for 201If your expenses were too low to claim the medical expense deduction for 2014, consider postponing discretionary services a few weeks into the New Year..The Social Security Trustees forecast that the disability trust fund will be completely exhausted by 201What do you feel should be done to ensure that the disabled continue to receive their benefits?.Notch Reform is far from being over though. Officially there are more co-sponsors of "The Notch Fairness Act" than ever before at the end of the first year of a session of Congress and support is ahead of last-sessions record-breaking numbers. With enough co-sponsors signed on, TSCL and the grass roots can help force the bill to the floor for a straight up and down vote. We urge you, and the families of all Notch Babies, to contact your Members of Congress. Ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 615, and enact "The Notch Fairness Act.".If enacted, this bill would address one of the key areas currently missing from our prescription drug market - competition. Just as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is already able to negotiate lower drug prices for its patients, Medicare should be given the freedom to do the same..Since the WEP and GPO were created decades ago, lawmakers have been working on better alternatives. At Tuesday's hearing, those on the subcommittee discussed a bill the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act that could be a promising solution. If signed into law, it would provide immediate relief to current retirees affected by adjusting their Social Security benefits. According to Stephen Goss the Social Security Administration's Chief Actuary around 80 percent would see benefit increases of approximately 20 percent..There are important trade-offs to Medicare Advantage. Enrollees must use the network of hospitals and doctors who contract with the plan. In recent years as enrollment grows, more plan enrollees have been hit with surprise bills for out of network providers - often for thousands of dollars. While traditional Medicare is accepted by any willing doctor in every state, Medicare Advantage coverage tends to be accepted only in a specific geographic area. There are also more requirements for prior approval for certain procedures..Already Senate leaders are making in known that they won't get their work done on time again this year. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said he's ready to move ahead with fiscal 2021 spending bills. But he told his subcommittee chairmen the Senate isn't likely to pass those measures until after the election, in December. Lawmakers expect to pass another stop-gap to prevent a funding lapse in September..With no effective treatment in sight, and no indication that the coronavirus will "magically disappear," as the President has frequently predicted, a vaccine will be "the ultimate game changer" in the pandemic, according Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading expert on the outbreak. "There's never a guarantee of success," Fauci said. But he added that he was "cautiously optimistic" that by winter, at least one of nearly a dozen promising vaccine candidates would have shown itself to be safe and effective in inducing immunity in humans..In a statement, Senator Warren said: "This bill will make a life changing difference for the millions of Americans who experience hearing loss but can't access the care they need because of archaic regulations. I'm glad to work with Senator Paul on this common-sense step to bring down costs for our seniors."
