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During the August break an old and ugly threat to Social Security and Medicare surfaced once again. The Congressional Budget Office released its forecast of future federal government deficits. It said that deficits are expected to climb to over trillion in fiscal year2020, which begins this October And they will keep going up in the years after that..With unemployment still 5.4%, and less payroll tax revenue to finance the benefits of swelling Social Security rolls, how is the program's financing faring during our 2021 economic recovery? The Social Security Trustees are expected to soon release a much-anticipated annual report that gives us our first real glimpse of how the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affected Social Security's retirement, survivors and disability programs in 2020..The coronavirus caused approximately 375,000 deaths and was the third leading cause of death in 2020, after heart disease and cancer. Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. now top 550,000 since the start of the pandemic..Tell your leadership what is important to you - Sign a Petition.In the weeks ahead, TSCL will continue to monitor the health reform discussions in the Senate and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website. In the meantime, we encourage our members and supporters to contact those in the Senate who voted against the "skinny repeal" bill to express their gratitude. Senators Collins, Murkowski, and McCain took a stand against legislation that would have jeopardized the health and financial security of millions of older Americans, and TSCL appreciates their leadership on this important issue. For contact information, click HERE..A provision of a recently enacted government spending bill restricts Part B premium increases in 202The bill caps the Part B premium increase for next year at the 2020 amount plus 25% of the difference between the 2020 amount and a preliminary amount for 202The preliminary amount would be calculated the same way that it would have been without the bill but would prevent dramatic increases that may have occurred as a result of Medicare Part B premiums growing when the COLA is so low..Currently the program pays out more in benefits than it receives in cash revenues. The interest on money owed to the Social Security Trust Funds, however, is helping to fund the benefits of today's retirees. But because the government must borrow the amount of money needed to repay funds borrowed from Social Security in the past, that drives up federal spending. Some Members of Congress are saying that benefits must be reduced, or that higher revenues are needed, to reduce the deficit..The 2018 findings represent a substantial 4 percent loss in Social Security benefit buying power from January 2017 through January 201The loss deepened from 30 percent in 2017 to 34 percent in 201Of the thirty-nine costs analyzed in the study, twenty-six exceeded the percentage increase in the COLA over the 2000 to 2018 period..job.