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Under current law the Social Security COLA is calculated based on the spending patterns of younger working adults using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. But older consumers spend a bigger portion of their household budgets on healthcare and housing, two categories that have been increasing more rapidly in recent years. "Medicare Part B premiums are the fastest growing cost most retirees will ever have," notes Johnson. "But those costs are not even surveyed under the CPI-W or reflected in today's COLA," she says..years, seniors participating in TSCL surveys say they are putting off visits to.We are pleased and grateful that Rep. Grace Meng has once again introduced legislation, H.R. 3839, to remedy this situation. It would allow workers who reach age 65 after 1981 and before 1992 to choose either lump sum payments over four years totaling ,000 or an improved benefit computation formula under a new 10-year rule governing the transition to the changes in benefit computation rules enacted in the Social Security Amendments of 1977..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..Recently my mother got a notice from Social Security saying that her income is over the limit, and now she's paying much higher Medicare premiums than last year. Normally her income is modest, but in 2009 we sold her home after she moved into an assisted living facility. Her monthly Part B premium rose from .40 to 1.50. Her Part D coverage had increased by per month and the government tacked on a surcharge of more than doubling the premium that she paid last year. Altogether, my mother's Social Security was reduced by .10 a month! Someone told me this was part of healthcare reform. Why was there no advance notice to allow families to plan for this?.Spousal and/or divorced spouse retirement benefits based on spouse's or former spouse's account..But in addition to health benefits, Susan needs the income from work to help cover the expenses of family caregiving. Her 43 - year old son, Andrew who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant, and has lived at home with Susan his entire life. Suffering from seizures, a speech disorder and difficulties with walking and moving around safely, Andrew requires daily care. More recently Susan moved her 90 - year old mother in as well. With day care help from one of Susan's daughters and other family members, Susan has been able to keep her son and mom where they want to be - out of institutions, and at home with family - while she continues to work..Watch our newest video featuring TSCL's Board of Trustees as they work for our benefits in our nation's Capital..To learn more about avoiding problems with your drug plan, and how to prevent unnecessary drug costs in 2012, read some of the related Frequently Asked Questions.