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Senate Confirms New CMS Administrator.TSCL is especially concerned about how seniors and their families would be informed about the change of health plans. Dual eligible seniors are more likely to have cognitive challenges, and their family caregivers may not understand that a transition to a new health plan is taking place, or how to navigate the changes. TSCL is particularly concerned that seniors may not be able to keep their former doctors and other healthcare providers if those providers don't participate under the new plans. If so, this raises the potential for unintended and uncovered costs, if seniors unwittingly continue to see their former doctor or present the wrong health plan card when visiting providers..Ending the payroll tax, "would end Social Security as we now know it - as an 'earned' benefit that people pay for with taxes based on their wages," Johnson says. "If Social Security were funded out of general revenues instead, the program would be more like welfare - subject to the annual appropriations process, and the funding or repeal whims of Congress," she says..These three-decade-old policies have been proven to be harmful not helpful, which is why I introduced H.R. 141, the Social Security Fairness Act of 201This bill will completely eliminate these counterproductive policies and, while other members of Congress have their own ideas on how to improve our Social Security system, this legislation is the only one that completely repeals both harmful provisions..The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction was created under the Budget Control Act of 2011, and is charged with finding at least .2 trillion in deficit cuts by Thanksgiving. It will likely consider proposals to reform Social Security and Medicare..The assertion that many lower - income beneficiaries would lose benefits due to higher COLAs simply isn't the case, but is rather another example of twisted partisan rhetoric. Voters would be far better served by lawmakers who are more focused on solving problems of the majority of people than spreading misinformation to protect the tax breaks of the nation's wealthiest workers..What can you do when you have trouble affording your vet?.Even if your income or assets are slightly higher than the guidelines, you should still apply. That's because certain kinds of resources may not be counted. States figure your income and assets differently, so you may be eligible in your state. When determining eligibility, your countable assets include checking or savings accounts, stocks and bonds. Your home, and one car, will not be counted..The COLA is calculated using data from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Of the CPI groups that the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures, the CPI-W covers only 28% of the total U.S. population, and specifically excludes households "with no one in the labor force, such as retirees."