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"Improving adult access to vaccines can save thousands of lives and billions of dollars. The health care costs associated with low adult vaccine rates are high - each year, the U.S. spends billion treating Medicare beneficiaries alone for four vaccine-preventable diseases. Cost-sharing and co-pays for vaccinations recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices were removed for all Affordable Care Act compliant private plans in 2010; however, Medicare beneficiaries were left out of this change and can still face high out-of-pocket costs for vaccinations.".If signed into law, the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act would amend the Social Security Act with regard to the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits. Currently, the COLA is based upon the spending patterns of young, urban workers using the CPI for Urban Wage Earners. This legislation would calculate the COLA based on the spending patterns of seniors by using the CPI-E..We look forward to working with Sen. Casey and Rep. Cartwright in the coming months to help build support for this important bill. In addition, we urge our members and supporters to contact their elected officials to request their support for it. For contact information, CLICK HERE..TSCL is pleased that after more than a decade, lawmakers have finally passed legislation to repeal and replace the SGR once and for all. The SGR has not worked as it was intended to since 2003, and seventeen times it has called for steep physician pay cuts, threatening access to quality medical care for seniors. We are hopeful that the new system will bring increased stability to the Medicare program..TSCL Meets With High-Ranking Senate Leader.The big news at the end of last week was President Trumps four executive orders that are supposed to lower prescription drug prices. Lowering those prices was something he campaigned on in 2016 and has talked about since, but this is the first time he has taken action.."Prior Authorization in Medicare Advantage Plans: How Often Is It Used?" Gretchen Jacobson and Tricia Neuman, Kaiser Family Foundation, October 201"Medicare Advantage Appeal Outcomes and Audit Findings Raise Concerns About Service and Payment Denials," Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services, September 25, 2018..The compromise extends the tax holiday, unemployment benefits, and Medicare physician payments through the remainder of 2012..The idea is to cut government spending on Medicare by limiting the annual growth of the Medicare voucher to the growth of the gross domestic product plus one percentage point. However, for the last 40 years national healthcare spending has exceeded the growth of the gross domestic product by more than two percentage points, and TSCL is highly concerned that the vouchers would rapidly become increasingly inadequate to purchase sufficient coverage or that seniors would face significantly higher premiums. In addition, the CBO recently wrote that the average age and cost of enrollees remaining in the current system would increase over time, and TSCL believes that would lead to far higher premiums for older beneficiaries as well.