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Chapter 1The Consumer Price Index, Handbook of Methods, The Bureau of Labor Statistics, updated April 18, 2019..The continuing resolution will give appropriators in the House and Senate five extra days until Wednesday, December 16th to work out the final details of the omnibus. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn told reporters on Thursday, "There are a few outstanding issues that have not yet been resolved." However, he said he's hopeful that the omnibus will be filed on Monday after a weekend of negotiations..Split your pills if you can: You can further cut your costs in half by splitting your pills in half. Ask your doctor if pill splitting would work with your prescriptions. Your doctor would need to write a prescription with a dosage twice as high as you normally take. You can readily find inexpensive pill splitters at your pharmacy. If you do split your pills, make sure your family and emergency caregivers also know! Carefully label all prescriptions that require splitting..Two provisions of law, known as the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset unfairly reduce, or even completely eliminate, the Social Security benefits of millions of Americans who have devoted their careers to public service, in addition to having worked other jobs that withheld payroll taxes for Social Security..After passing the so-called "cromnibus" late last week, Members of Congress returned to their home states and districts for the remainder of the year. They will return to Capitol Hill in January to begin the 114th Congress..This week, The Senior Citizens League announced its support for the Seniors Have Eyes, Ears, and Teeth Act, which was recently introduced by Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard with the support of seventy-eight original House cosponsors..Consider this, 5 per month is about one quarter of the average ,523 per month Social Security benefit in 202About one third of those participating in our 2020 Senior Survey indicated they spent that much on their total healthcare costs. Another 31% said they spend more than ,000 a month on total healthcare costs - roughly two-thirds of the average Social Security benefit! These findings are particularly troubling considering that the Government Accountability Office estimated in 2019 that almost half of households with people aged 55 and older have no retirement savings or other form of pension outside of Social Security..The exact number of physicians with concierge practices is unknown, health care experts said. One physician consulting company, Concierge Choice Physicians, estimates that roughly 10,000 doctors practice some form of membership medicine, although it may not strictly apply to Medicare patients. And the move to concierge medicine may be more prevalent in wealthier areas..Senate Fails to Advance Health Reform Legislation