For the sixth consecutive year, Social Security beneficiaries will receive a cost-of-living adjustment that's a near-record low. Benefits will rise in January by a meager 1.7% after a 1.5% increase in 201In fact, inflation has been growing so slowly that the annual increase has averaged only 1.4% per year since 2010 - less than half the 3 percent average during the prior decade. In 2010 and 2011, benefits didn't increase at all, and a 1.7% increase next year won't pull up the five-year average..For information about town hall meetings near you in the days ahead, call the local offices of your elected officials. For contact information, click HERE..Congress should enact legislation that would require greater Congressional review and approval of future totalization agreements..We have been hearing from hundreds of you who are watching the inflation numbers and eagerly looking forward to getting a high inflation boost next year. But a number of you point out an urgent problem that occurs when COLAs raise the income of people with lower incomes. The higher inflation boost can sometimes disqualify people of modest means from receiving low-income benefits such as food stamps or rental assistance..After a rare bipartisan agreement, President Obama signed a bill into law that will extend the payroll tax break and unemployment benefits, and prevent a 27% pay cut to Medicare physicians. The President signed the measure into law in private on Wednesday, after celebrating the passage of the bill at an event on Tuesday.."New Alzheimer's Drug Clouds Outlook For Medicare Premiums Next Year," Mark Miller, Reuters, July 12, 202"How Everyone On Medicare Could End Up Paying For The Pricey New Alzheimer's Drug," July 10, 202"Medicare Evaluating Coverage for ,000 Alzheimer's Drug," Ricardo Alonso Zaldivar, Matthew Perrone, The Associated Press, July 13, 2021..According to Politico, "At least 10 caucus moderates are signaling opposition to Democrats' drug pricing negotiation bill - more than enough to potentially force House Speaker Nancy Pelosi into dropping the reforms from [President Biden's] infrastructure legislation Democrats hope to pass along party lines. Pelosi can only spare two Democratic defections on partisan legislation because of the party's slim House majority.".By Representative Mike Garcia.If signed into law, the Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act would repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate formula and set up a five-year trial period during which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would test and evaluate new payment and delivery models. It would prevent scheduled pay cuts to physicians who treat Medicare patients, and it would stabilize reimbursements throughout the trial period.
