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Social Security Reform Extending the program's solvency without enacting harmful cuts..The Congressional Budget Office estimates the House GOP's American Health Care Act that passed in the House cuts federal spending on Medicaid by 4 billion over ten years, a funding cut of 25%. The Senate's health care bill would cut Medicaid even more deeply, by using a more slowly-growing inflation index to adjust reimbursements to states..Recently we asked for your stories and comments on how rising prescription drug costs impact you. The following story illustrates new administrative efforts by Medicare to "educate" beneficiaries about their options for less expensive prescription meds, by sending out letters listing lower cost medications. The question we need to ask our lawmakers is why is this necessary? Does the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services believe we are impoverishing ourselves by using more expensive drugs if a less expensive alternative was effective, to begin with? Unfortunately, sometimes the older, less expensive drugs don't work as well, and with metastatic cancer drugs, quality of life can be at stake. Our sincere thank you to Janice S. a retiree living in Illinois, for sharing the following..however, my client was able to save ,080 in uncovered out-of-pocket drug costs.Addressing prescription drug prices is also one of my top priorities as Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The Committee launched a comprehensive investigation of the prescription drug industry's pricing practices in January of this year, focusing on the drugs that are the costliest to Medicare. In January I convened the Committee's first hearing of the 116th Congress on this topic, inviting AARP's National Volunteer President to testify about the challenges seniors face in affording their drugs..The Social Security Administration adjusts the amount of your benefits based on what you estimate that you will earn. If you go back to work, let the Social Security Administration know right away. If other family members get benefits based on your work, your earnings may reduce their benefits too..Masks and face coverings remain an important tool to stop spread of the coronavirus, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Congress this week, adding that he's worried that some Americans appear to be ignoring the advice..With inflation soaring in 2021, The Senior Citizens League has received dozens of emails from retired and disabled adults who say they have cut back on prescription drugs to cope with rising costs, because they have no savings. Said one disabled retiree, "My husband and I have Social Security as our only income. All of our savings went to pay my medical bills. I have seven prescriptions and my husband has three. They are each a minimum of co-pay per month. We have no extra money. Our grocery budget is the only place we can cut from if we want to pay medical bills.".However, a modification to the bill is under consideration that would provide a portion of the income taxes collected on Social Security benefits to the Medicare Trust Fund in the same manner and amount as current law. That modification, however, would have a big impact on Social Security's cash flow in the earlier years. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the change would lower the total amount of revenues going into the Social Security Trust Fund by 1 billion over the 2020-2029 period, and would not prevent Social Security from becoming insolvent by 2036.