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Senate Aging Committee Discusses Alzheimer's Disease.Hospitals, which are often the biggest employers in their localities, or even their states, have furloughed workers, and the industry lost an estimated billion a month in foregone surgeries and procedures during the worst part of the pandemic. Hospitals rely on elective surgeries for a major portion of their revenue, because Medicare and private insurers tend to pay more for those procedures than other types of hospital care. Hospitals say they also have lost money in treating COVID-19, because of the amount of intensive care that patients need..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..A new analysis from The Senior Citizens League indicates that Social Security checks in 2019 are as much as 18 percent lower due to the impact of extremely low COLAs over the past ten years. From 2000 to 2010, COLAs routinely averaged 3 percent annually. People who have been receiving Social Security benefits since 2009, have only seen a COLA higher than 2.8 percent one time..Gradually, over 10 years, eliminate the cap on earnings that are taxed for Social Security. This would mean that the approximately 6% of workers who earn more than the 8,500 cap in 2015 would pay into Social Security throughout the year like other workers. In return they would get slightly higher benefits..How Do I Know When It's Time For Assisted Living If I Live Alone?.Unfortunately, the two other changes that took effect last month will not affect seniors as positively. Young retirees will be hit with an increase in the threshold for the itemized deductions of medical expenses. Those under the age of sixty-five will not be able to deduct unreimbursed medical expenses unless they account for at least 10 percent of adjusted gross income. Those over the age of sixty-five may continue using the 7.5 percent threshold until 2017; however, all seniors should beware that this tax provision may be modified or even eliminated as lawmakers continue to search for ways to reduce the deficit..[2] "How Much Is Enough? Out-of-Pocket Spending Among Medicare Beneficiaries: A Chartbook," Kaiser Family Foundation, July 2014.."Is There A Subprime Car Loan Bubble?" Bob Sullivan, Credit.com, March 23, 2015.