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New legislation retroactively extends several tax breaks that affect the amount you may deduct in unreimbursed medical expenses. The lower threshold for itemized medical expense deduction was one of the breaks extended. The threshold under the 2017 tax law was originally scheduled to rise from the excess of 7.5% of adjusted gross income to 10% of AGI for the 2019 tax year. But new legislation extended the 7.5% AGI level..Last week, as part of the Executive Order effort, the Administration announced a set of actions designed to ensure the U.S. has access to the pharmaceuticals necessary for economic security, health security, and national defense..If we closed this loophole, we could ensure that Social Security continues paying full benefits to every single American who pays in, just as they were promised..Reducing the taxation of Social Security benefits by increasing the income thresholds that subject Social Security benefits, from ,000 for single filers and ,000 for joint returns, to ,000 and 0,000 respectively..The big difference between the CPI-W used to calculate your COLA, and the CPI-E, is the weight or portion of income that the Bureau of Labor Statistics gives to each category. While seniors occasionally benefit from the heavier weighting of transportation costs and food costs under the CPI-W when food and gasoline prices spike, in the majority of years they fall behind due to the lower weighting of medical care..cuts 0 billion from Medicare funding, and would cause the Medicare Trust Fund to go insolvent almost immediately,.In 2012, the GPO reduced the Social Security benefits of nearly 600,000 surviving spouses, who also collect a government pensions, by nearly two-thirds. Nine out of 10 public employees affected by the GPO lost their entire spousal benefit, even though their spouse paid Social Security taxes..In her new role as CMS administrator, Verma will report to Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who has authored several Medicare reform plans in recent years. His proposals would increase the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 while adopting a "premium support" model, where beneficiaries would be given vouchers from the federal government to purchase private health insurance..This week, the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees released their highly anticipated annual reports on the financial status of the two programs. In addition, lawmakers remained in their home states and districts to continue the two-week spring recess.