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The report continues, "Two House panels last week approved legislation adding vision, hearing and dental coverage to Medicare. Dental is by far the most expensive and complicated of the three to roll out: the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office previously estimated that such coverage would cost 8 billion over 10 years, compared with billion for vision and billion for hearing coverage..Alexandria, VA leading proposal to temporarily fix the looming insolvency of the Social Security disability trust fund by reallocating payroll taxes has virtually no support among seniors, according to a new poll by The Senior Citizens League. Less than one percent of seniors polled said shifting revenues from the Social Security retirement trust fund to pay disability benefits was the best way to fix the disability program's financing. "TSCL believes this 'band aid' approach will not be quietly tolerated this time around," says TSCL Chairman Ed Cates. "Today's senior voters have clear preferences for how they think lawmakers should address the disability program's funding shortfalls - reallocation of payroll taxes from the trust fund that pays retirement benefits is not one of them," Cates states..Since that conversation inflation for certain items has jumped. In fact consumer price data indicate that the COLA for next year may be the highest since 2019, if the trends continue. My estimates about the COLA are based on the most current available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for what it's worth..Some lawmakers are advocating for paid leave legislation that would require new parents to trade their future Social Security retirement benefits for twelve weeks of parental leave. This would undermine the mission of the Social Security program, increase its insolvency, and permanently cut the retirement benefits of those who take paid leave. Do you think this is a responsible proposal?.Over the past decade, there has been no COLA at all three times - in 2010, 2011, and 201In 2017 the COLA was just 0.03%. The 2021 COLA of 1.3% is one of the lowest COLAs ever paid. TSCL feels this is a clear sign that the inflation adjustment for Social Security benefits is failing the very people it was designed to protect.."The measure would generally limit surprise billing in the following circumstances:.The agreement would make patients responsible only for their in-network cost-sharing amounts for both emergency services, including air ambulances, and some non-emergency care, according to the outline..In short, since 2015 Congress apparently forgot about the deficit and went on a spending spree. But suddenly, it has become a crisis again. Or has it become a convenient excuse for doing what a lot of them have wanted to do for a long time: cut Medicare and Social Security benefits?.It can happen because the patient got treated by a doctor not on the list of providers that contract with that person's health plan to provide care at negotiated rates. This can happen on visits to a hospital emergency room, when there's no option of which doctor to see, for example.