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My frail mother was in the hospital after passing out and falling. She stayed "in observation" for four days and received a number of tests for stroke, heart and circulatory problems. After discharge, her doctor said she needed nursing home care. The nursing home warned us that if mother's hospital stay was observation Medicare would not cover the nursing home stay. She has received several large bills for the hospital care. We can't afford to pay for this care out-of-pocket. Can you suggest anything?.The sharp plunge was the result of changes that Congress made in 1977 to a Social Security benefit formula glitch that over-adjusted for inflation. At the time, Social Security actuaries forecast that if left unchanged, some groups of future retirees would receive benefits that would be even higher than their average earnings during their working years. Social Security was almost insolvent..In 2012, the GPO reduced, by nearly two-thirds, the Social Security benefits of nearly 600,000 surviving spouses who also collect a government pension. Nine out of 10 public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal benefit, even though their spouse paid Social Security taxes for years..and improve your health..While about 70% of Medicare beneficiaries will see no Medicare Part B increase in premiums this year, the legislation reduced monthly Part B premiums for the 30% of beneficiaries who faced the jump of 52%. That group, who are not protected by the Social Security "hold harmless" provision, will pay a base premium of 1.80 per month instead of an estimated 9 this year. Higher income beneficiaries who are not protected by hold harmless pay an additional surcharge on the base premium amount. The legislation also reduced an increase in the Part B deductible from a projected 3 to 6..By Representative Elijah E. Cummings,.TSCL supports the Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act enthusiastically since it would extend the solvency of the program responsibly, without cutting benefits for seniors. We look forward to working closely with Senator Hirono and Congressman Deutch in the months ahead to help build support for their important new bill..The Speaker slammed drug companies for the level of stock buybacks and dividends in recent years and argued that cuts to prices will not harm research and development spending given new findings on buybacks..So, does your support for TSCL. We depend on you and each of our supporters to keep us in this fight. We receive no financial support from corporations or the government.