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For progress updates or for more information about these and other bills that would strengthen Social Security and Medicare programs, visit the our website at, follow TSCL on Twitter or Facebook.."But the evidence on whether Biogen's treatment, called aducanumab, is effective is, at best, mixed; the FDA approved it this week over the objections of its own advisory committee. And with a preliminary announced price of nearly ,000 annually per patient, covering the treatment could cost upward of 0 billion a year, mostly to Medicare, which would almost double the program's drug spending. Patients themselves could be on the hook for thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs.".This year, Social Security beneficiaries received no cost-of-living adjustment despite a national survey indicating a majority reported higher costs. Do you support legislation that would give seniors an emergency COLA before the end of this year?.This week, The Senior Citizens League announced its support for two bills that would improve Medicare coverage of certain services. First, TSCL endorsed the Audiology Patient Choice Act, a bipartisan bill that was introduced in March by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Rand Paul. The bill was introduced in the House last year by Representative Tom Rice with the support of several cosponsors..Tightening eligibility requirements. Currently, DI applicants must have worked 5 of the past 10 years to be eligible for benefits. Increasing this requirement to 6 of the past 10 years would reduce the number of eligible beneficiaries only slightly and would save up to billion..In making the 1977 changes, Congress, wanting to avoid an abrupt change, allowed persons born from 1917 through 1921 to use a special transitional benefit formula or the new 1977 formula, whichever would yield the higher of the two benefits. The transition benefit formula never delivered the promised benefit protection, however, because it did not yield a higher benefit amount. Instead, the new benefit formula most often yielded the higher amount..table-2.The Pelosi bill if enacted would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies in order to lower them..TSCL believes modestly higher retirement benefits are needed by a majority of people at or nearing retirement. A number of national studies indicate that millions of older Americans are entering retirement without the financial resources to cover retirements that may stretch 30 years or more. A 2015 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office that says about one - half of households 55 and older have no retirement savings, and many of those that do run the risk of falling short of income.