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But in the meantime, beware of scams and identity theft attempts. Scammers are taking advantage of the confusion created by the transition, and reports of Medicare card scams are rampant. The two most important things to know: Medicare will not call or contact you for "information about your account," and the new card will not cost you anything..You read that right..Most Look Forward to Boost; Low-Income Retirees Worry Benefits Could be Trimmed.Interest on a home mortgage on loans up to million if you signed your mortgage prior to December 15, 2017, or up to 0,000 on loans signed after that date..IPAB Repeal Bill Approved by House.To improve program solvency, TSCL's surveys have found that a large majority of survey participants, 72%, support applying the Social Security payroll tax to all earnings instead of just the first 2,800 in earnings..The income thresholds for the federal poverty levels are adjusted using a somewhat faster growing index than the one used to determine the COLA. Unlike the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, which does not survey the costs of people over the age of 62, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers CPI-U includes the spending patterns of both younger workers and people over the age of 6Consequently the federal poverty limits increase somewhat faster than the CPI-W and today's COLAs. The 2016 poverty levels reflect a 0.1% increase over 2015 rather than zero like the Social Security COLA..Based on your current age, your full retirement age is 6That's the age when you can retire and receive the full, unreduced amount of your benefits. If you start benefits at age 64 your benefit will be reduced 20%. For example if you are eligible for ,200 at age 66 you would only receive 0 per month at age 64..This issue gets considerable attention from Members of Congress and the media. These findings are a huge red flag that the standard of living of older Americans is eroding, and this is true not only for lower income households, but for all retirees, because healthcare costs are growing much more rapidly than COLAs. To provide greater retirement security, Social Security benefits need to be boosted, and Medicare cost increases need to be slowed in a way that saves billions without cutting benefits. The Senior Citizens League is supporting the Emergency Social Security COLA for 2021 Act, which would replace the 1.3 percent COLA with a more adequate 3 percent COLA in 202How were you affected by healthcare costs in 2020? Please take our TSCL's 2021 Senior Survey.