The Pelosi bill if enacted would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies in order to lower them..This week, lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill following the month-long August recess and quickly passed legislation to temporarily fund the federal government and lift the debt ceiling. In addition, one House Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the Social Security Disability Insurance program, and one Senate Committee met to debate the future of the Affordable Care Act..Under growing pressure to reduce the federal debt, Congress is considering a new Medicare proposal that would shift the risk of rising costs that outpace spending targets set by the government to seniors and the disabled. The proposal comes from a key recommendation of President Obama's Fiscal Commission..Petition to Congress: Put an End to Dramatic Increases in Prescription Drug Costs.The Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act, if signed into law, would repeal the SGR and set up a five-year trial period during which physician payments would stabilize and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would test new payment and delivery models. TSCL strongly believes that the SGR breeds uncertainty in the Medicare program for both physicians and beneficiaries. Many doctors have stopped accepting Medicare patients, and many more are threatening to do so if a permanent solution is not established soon. We believe that Rep. Schwartz's bill would bring increased stability to the program, and we urge Congress to pass it by the end of this year..That is why TSCL so strongly opposes the President's proposal. True, it would be a boost for those now employed. But it will do nothing for those who are unemployed, and those are the people who need the most help right now. There are other ways to aid them, as well as to help the currently employed..One of the biggest traps to determining Medicare premiums based on income is how the government defines "high income." Social Security's rules can snag even modest-income people. This can happen when a home is sold or when converting retirement accounts. One-time capital gains can put seniors over the Medicare income thresholds. The higher Medicare premiums reduce monthly Social Security benefits for an entire year. Should your mother's income in 2010 return to more modest levels she won't have to pay the means test premium surcharges and her Social Security benefit should return to more normal levels next year..The Senior Citizens League supports the "Seniors Security Act," legislation that would adopt the Consumer Price Index for Elder Consumers, an index that more closely reflects the costs of retirees, to calculate the annual COLA and would ensure that Part B premium never amounts to more than 30 percent of an individual's COLA increase. To learn more, visit..Progressives see expanding the popular entitlement as essential to fulfilling their campaign pledges and keeping Democratic control of the House and Senate. But the reforms threaten the bottom line of insurers who administer private Medicare plans and sell supplemental coverage for dental, vision and hearing services. Groups like the American Dental Association, worried their members will be paid less in traditional Medicare than in private Medicare plans, are also pushing to limit the new benefits to the poorest Americans.
