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TSCL Releases 2018 Loss of Buying Power Study.What you can do:.Medicare Extra Help helps pay for some, or most, of the out-of-pocket costs for Medicare prescription drug coverage. It is also known as the Part D "Low-Income" subsidy. Extra Help pays for the Part D premium up to a certain amount, lowers the cost of your prescription drugs, gives you special enrollment periods to switch plans, and eliminates the Part D late enrollment penalty if you did not enroll in Part D by your original deadline. If your income is under ,615 or ,175 and you have limited savings and resources, you might be eligible. Apply for Medicare Extra Help on the Social Security website..The U.S. has given billions of dollars to drug companies to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus that has infected more than 5.1 million people across the country. It has even gambled on locking in a minimum of 800 million doses as soon as the immunizations are cleared later this year or early next year..What can you do? Share this story. If you or someone you know was born in 1960, contact your Members of Congress! Let your Representative and Senators know that you are concerned about the permanent 9% cut that would affect the retirement benefits of everyone born in 1960. We can make Social Security more equitable, but it takes working together to make that happen..Another possibility for House legislative action is subsidies to make health care more affordable..The bill that was approved on Tuesday includes a million boost in funding for the Social Security Administration, million for a new initiative that would work to prevent elder abuse, and nearly million in extra funding for the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which is currently struggling with a massive backlog of continuing disability reviews. Additionally, it includes .7 million for fraud prevention within Medicare and Medicaid more than twice the level that was allocated in fiscal 201According to the Subcommittee, every spent fighting fraud results in a return of .By increasing next year's funding, appropriators expect to see .4 billion in savings..TSCL believes that legislative changes that would switch to the chained CPI and cut COLAs will be a key feature of deficit reduction talks and plans that become public after the November elections. You can help! Sign TSCL's Social Security Fairness Petition online or call to have a petition mailed to you..In 2010, 2011, and 2016 there was no COLA payable at all and, in 2017, the COLA was just 0.03 percent. Likewise, in 2018, the COLA was 2 percent, but rising Part B premiums consumed the entire increase for roughly half of all beneficiaries.