People who are 65 years and older also should be up to date with pneumococcal vaccination to protect against pneumococcal disease, such as pneumonia, meningitis, and bloodstream infections. Talk to your health care provider to find out which pneumococcal vaccines are recommended for you..Because Medicare Part B premiums are automatically deducted from Social Security benefits, retirees find it difficult to fully anticipate the squeeze that rising Medicare Part B can put on benefits and their budgets. In the past 15 years the percentage of the Social Security COLA increase has been lower than Medicare Part B premium increase 9 times..The 2017 tax law contained a provision for all taxpayers, that temporarily increased the deduction for qualified medical expenses. Taxpayers are allowed to deduct qualified medical expenses in excess of 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income for the 2017 and 2018 tax years. In 2019, the threshold will become less generous for all taxpayers, rising to the excess over 10 percent of AGI..Just years before they retired these individuals learned they would have significantly lower benefits than they expected because of amendments to the Social Security Act that were signed into law in 1977 and which have compounded over time..Nonetheless, TSCL will not let the Senate forget that the need to pass legislation to help bring down the prices of prescription drugs must not be set aside because of the coronavirus threat. Many, many seniors are at risk because they can't afford the drugs they need, and the situation must be dealt with now..A survey conducted by TSCL from January through May 15, 2016 found that 83% of older voters oppose entitlement to Social Security and Medicare benefits based on earnings from jobs worked without legal authorization. "Concern is high that undocumented immigrants who were illegally present and who worked under fake, invalid, or fraudulent Social Security numbers may benefit based on such work, potentially at the expense of others who paid into the system the legal way," says TSCL Chairman, Ed Cates..Lowering drug prices is a singular area where bipartisan legislation could make it into law this year. On Monday, Senator Jeanne Shaheen in introduced legislation that would cut the cost of insulin by 75% compared with the level expected in 2020. The proposal would create a new pricing model that limits the use of rebates for Medicare Part D and the private insurance market, Sens. Tom Carper, Susan Collins and Kevin Cramer have already signed on as co-sponsors to the legislation.."It's about time," states Johnson. At the time of passage of the Affordable Care Act, this tax was widely referred to as a "Medicare" tax in the media, by tax and investment professionals, and, many lawmakers sold it to the public that way. "Now those revenues are needed by the Medicare Part A Hospital Insurance Trust Fund," says Johnson. Part A is three years from insolvency and faces an estimated funding gap of more than 5 billion over the next ten years..What that means, in plain language, is the President is suggesting that for an unspecified "short term," taxes paid by workers into the Social Security system be suspended, further weakening the Social Security system.
