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Medicaid currently covers about 60 percent of people in nursing homes. But to qualify, seniors in long-term care are required to "spend down" their life savings to the last ,000 and ,000 before Medicaid covers the bill. That won't apply to people younger than 65 under the new rules. Financial eligibility is based on modified adjusted gross income. Medicaid will no longer count how much applicants have in assets like savings and investments for this group of applicants as long as they aren't in long-term care. While that's likely to help more low-income seniors under 65 qualify for Medicaid, TSCL is concerned that it also opens the program to greater potential for gaming the system and fraud..The COLA isn't living up to the promise of protecting the buying power of your benefits, and retirees are getting short changed. We need to work together to enact legislation that will provide a more fair and adequate COLA. To learn how you can get involved visit:..Our job is to represent you to Congress and keep you informed about what is happening. We rely on you to put pressure on your Senators and Representative when it comes to the legislation we need to have passed..Sound like we're headed for a vicious cycle? The sheer paralysis that lawmakers have contended with in responding to our current sluggish economy over the past two years is an early warning that we are nearing the edge. Even so there are still some who brush off anxiety over Social Security's financing by saying "Social Security is an easy fix.".Let me be clear: I value genuine research and development, I believe drug companies should be able to make reasonable profits, and I understand that investors expect reasonable returns. I also believe, however, that it is Congress' job to ensure that Americans do not have to live with the fear that they will go bankrupt if they get sick. That is why I introduced the Prescription Drug Affordability Act of 2015 with Senator Bernie Sanders last year. This bill is a bold and comprehensive approach to reducing prescription drug prices in the United States. It empowers the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate drug prices under the Medicare Part D prescription drug program; it enhances transparency, encourages competition, and brings much needed accountability to the pharmaceutical industry.."And even then, half of the US population, at this point, is skeptical of even taking the vaccine," Osterholm said. "So, what we have right now is a major problem in messaging.".Retirement accounts allow your savings to grow tax-deferred, but the rules change when you turn age 70 ½. At 70 ½, traditional IRAs require the owner to take required minimum withdrawals and you can't contribute any more savings. But you can still continue to put money into other types of retirement accounts, including Roth IRAs and some types of 401s, as long as you have earnings from jobs..Currently the program pays out more in benefits than it receives in cash revenues. The interest on money owed to the Social Security Trust Funds, however, is helping to fund the benefits of today's retirees. But because the government must borrow the amount of money needed to repay funds borrowed from Social Security in the past, that drives up federal spending. Some Members of Congress are saying that benefits must be reduced, or that higher revenues are needed, to reduce the deficit.."The 6.7 percent increase in the Part B premium is the largest since 2006 for a year in which a COLA is payable," Johnson says. There have been bigger jumps in Part B premiums as recently as 2016 and 2017, but those were two years in which there was no or almost no COLA paid. This situation can cause unusually high Part B premium spikes.