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This week, President Obama sent his fiscal 2016 budget blueprint to Congress, and The Senior Citizens League saw one new cosponsor sign on to the Notch Fairness Act..Meal and nutrition programs.The disparity between growth in the COLA and Medigap premiums is likely to be worse in 2020. "Inflation is lower this year, and we are estimating that the COLA is likely to be around 1.7 percent," Johnson says. "Nevertheless, we anticipate that Medigap premiums will continue to grow several times faster for a number of reasons," Johnson adds..The Ryan Budget would not only force seniors to pay more for their healthcare but it would reopen the Medicare prescription drug 'donut hole,' forcing many seniors to pay more for their life-saving prescription medications..Congressional Recess Begins.This week, TSCL formally announced its support for Rep. Tim Walberg's Social Security and Medicare Lock-Box Act. If signed into law, the bill would safeguard the Social Security and Medicare Part A Trust Funds and prevent lawmakers from using the monies for unrelated purposes. In addition, it would establish a commission to determine alternate forms of investment for the surplus funds..Recently we asked for your stories and comments on how rising prescription drug costs impact you. The following story illustrates new administrative efforts by Medicare to "educate" beneficiaries about their options for less expensive prescription meds, by sending out letters listing lower cost medications. The question we need to ask our lawmakers is why is this necessary? Does the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services believe we are impoverishing ourselves by using more expensive drugs if a less expensive alternative was effective, to begin with? Unfortunately, sometimes the older, less expensive drugs don't work as well, and with metastatic cancer drugs, quality of life can be at stake. Our sincere thank you to Janice S. a retiree living in Illinois, for sharing the following..If signed into law, the bill would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset two provisions of the Social Security Act that cut the earned benefits of millions of teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public servants each year. Because these individuals receive pensions from their state or local governments, their monthly Social Security checks are arbitrarily reduced, often by one-half or more..There's an old saying: "Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made."

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urging, but she finally got a physical. She was shocked to learn that her blood.When the Social Security Administration receives wage reports from employers with Social Security numbers and names that don't match those on file, the reports go into an Earnings Suspense File until they can be reconciled with the rightful owner -- which can occur years later when an application for benefits is received. Over the past ten years for which data is available the Social Security Administration has received, on average, more than 9.5 million suspicious wage reports annually representing more than billion per year in wages. "And it's the wages that are used to determine benefits, not the amount of taxes paid in," Hyland notes..Chairman Collins said at Tuesday's hearing: "Alzheimer's is not a normal part of aging. It is a public health issue with a course that we can potentially change. There are steps that we can take today to help prevent the risk of cognitive decline and to improve the lives of those living with Alzheimer's and their caregivers. This public health approach is not only empowering; it is the key to saving lives." … Continued

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Medicare is trying to nudge people towards using less expensive older drugs, as this story describes. Most of us jump at the chance to lower our drug costs whenever we can, but sometimes the alternative may not work as well. If this happens to you, I strongly suggest that you take the letter from Medicare and show it to your doctor. I'm willing to bet your doctor won't be pleased to see Medicare "prescribing" other drugs for his or her patients..[ii] Ibid..By: Jessie Gibbons, Legislative Analyst … Continued

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