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That's changing this year due to new Medicare rules that require suppliers to engage in competitive bidding to supply seniors with this equipment. A two-year pilot of competitive bidding in nine cities succeeded in lowering Medicare's durable medical equipment costs by a third. Lower costs for Medicare should also mean lower co-pays for seniors..While most prescription drugs are paid for by beneficiaries and their Medicare Part D plans, Medicare Part B spends about billion on pricey drugs that must be given intravenously or by injection by trained healthcare professionals. Medicare pays the healthcare provider the average sales price, plus 6% for the costs associated with the purchase and storage of the medications. For example, if a drug costs ,000, the doctor would receive an additional 6% payment, or , but if a similar drug costing ,000 were used instead, the doctor would receive 0 instead..And, in case you had any doubts about why you need that Medicare Advantage plan in the first place, here are the general types of costs if you have Medicare Advantage plan coverage compared with having traditional Medicare with a Medigap supplement..TSCL believes that the Medicare prescription drug benefit law is flawed, and will be carefully monitoring the effects of both the short-term Medicare drug cards, and the Medicare Drug Benefit plan in Medicare Part D as it traverses through the donut hole for many seniors. TSCL considers it necessary to compile feedback on the measure of success or failure of the program and its donut hole phase..The Social Security COLA was intended to protect the buying power of older Americans who for the most part, are no longer in the workforce. The majority of retirees depend on Social Security for at least half of their income, meaning that Social Security benefits tend to be spent immediately on essentials like housing, food and healthcare returning billions of dollars to the U.S. economy every year..Shortly after the ruling was issued, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said his department would not begin accepting applications for the deferred deportation program on Wednesday as scheduled. The program would have allowed an estimated 330,000 illegal immigrants to apply for work permits and deportation deferrals. Secretary Johnson also said the administration will suspend May plans to begin accepting deferred deportation requests from the parents of U.S. citizens. In total, the two programs would have delayed the deportation of more than 4 million illegal immigrants..The report, which was published in the medical journal Heart, also notes that the more you eat, the greater your risk, with each additional weekly serving of a half-cup of fried food increasing that risk by 3 percent..Because of the deficit projections some members of Congress have once again, raised the issue of balancing the federal budget on the backs of senior citizens..It would: require Medicare to negotiate lower Part D drug prices, allow individuals to import prescription drugs from Canada, require greater price transparency from drug manufacturers, accelerate the closing of the Part D "doughnut hole," restore drug rebates for low-income seniors, and put a 0 monthly cap on prescription drug spending for individuals. Together, these changes would dramatically reduce drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries. In the coming months, TSCL will continue to work towards its passage in Congress.