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visiting the government's National Clearinghouse for Long Term Care Information.This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the "Gang of Eight's" immigration reform bill by a vote of thirteen to five. In addition, two House Ways and Means Subcommittees held hearings on entitlement reform, and The Senior Citizens League saw support grow for four key bills..One of the first steps in bringing down prices is demanding transparency from the many players in the prescription drug supply chain. Many experts point to pharmacy benefit managers as potentially contributing to rising list prices and out-of-pocket costs. PBMs are the veritable middlemen of the drug industry - they serve as intermediaries between drug manufacturers, health insurers, and pharmacies. Some believe that, during this process, drug makers are forced to raise the list prices of their drugs just so they can offset the costs of rebates paid to these PBMs..TSCL Endorses Two Medicare Bills."The tax is a burden for middle class seniors," Cates says. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 52 million Social Security beneficiaries paid 6.7% of their Social Security benefits as income tax in 2014 and projects that will rise in the future to 10% or more..In addition, since 1992 there has been a significant change to the government's bottom line. For the government fiscal year ending September 30, 2000, the Congressional Budget Office reported a surplus of 6 billion- billion of which comes from non Social Security revenues. The CBO estimates the 10-year non-Social Security surplus to be about .1 trillion..Tightening eligibility requirements. Currently, DI applicants must have worked 5 of the past 10 years to be eligible for benefits. Increasing this requirement to 6 of the past 10 years would reduce the number of eligible beneficiaries only slightly and would save up to billion..Coronavirus vaccine by this winter? Maybe, but do not get your hopes up too far..Net qualified disaster losses from a federally declared disaster.

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The hold harmless provision protects people who have their Medicare Part B premiums automatically deducted from their Social Security payments. If the Medicare Part B premium increase is greater than the amount of the COLA increase, then the Part B premium will be frozen to prevent a reduction in Social Security payments. The provision does not apply to new enrollees in 2016, people who pay their Medicare Part B premiums by check, low-income beneficiaries who have their Medicare premiums paid for by state Medicaid programs and high income people who pay premium surcharges..Open Enrollment on the new health exchanges starts November 15 and will run for about one month. But even after a year of technical problems and significant repair efforts, the Government Accountability Office recently warned Congress that the federal exchange may continue to have more enrollment problems. Nevertheless, due to the high cost of insurance and potential tax repercussions, TSCL recommends that you start early and be persistent about finding your best plan..The "Congressional Corner" reflects the views of the writer and are not necessarily those of The Senior Citizens League. … Continued

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It's always heartbreaking to hear firsthand about how fraudsters and scammers have gone after your hard-earned savings. No senior should ever have to worry that picking up the phone could mean being scammed out of thousands of dollars..This week, lawmakers continued working towards an omnibus spending bill to fund the federal government through the remainder of the fiscal year..TSCL is pleased that lawmakers in Congress are finally making progress on a solution that would give public servants the retirement security they have earned and deserve. The bill currently has more than sixty cosponsors, with support on both sides of the aisle. Following the hearing, TSCL sent a letter to the subcommittee in support of it. In the months ahead, we will encourage lawmakers to sign on to the Equal Treatment of Public Servants Act as cosponsors, and we hope to see it signed into law before the end of this year. … Continued