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This week, Members of the Senate voted to confirm Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, The Senior Citizens League saw two key bills gain support..In 2010, 2011, and 2016 there was no COLA payable at all and, in 2017, the COLA was just 0.03 percent. Likewise, in 2018, the COLA was 2 percent, but rising Part B premiums consumed the entire increase for roughly half of all beneficiaries..The non - partisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that, if 500,000 of the roughly 6 million Americans with Alzheimer's are prescribed Aduhelm, total Medicare spending on this one drug, for one year, would be nearly billion. This would far exceed the spending on any other drug covered by Medicare Part B, or Part D, in 201Medicare spending for all Part B drugs was billion in 201What's more the estimated billion does not include the cost of any associated care. The drug can cause some people temporary brain swelling or small bleeding spots on the brain and requires pricey magnetic resonance imaging scans to monitor treatment..Low-income individuals whose state Medicaid programs pay their Medicare Part B premium on their behalf..Medicare Advantage plan cuts. So far, seniors have not been widely affected by cuts to Medicare Advantage plans, but many of the changes in reimbursements to plans have not yet taken effect. TSCL remains concerned that the reimbursement cuts would cause plans to drop extra benefits like eyeglasses and hearing aids that they now provide. Of greater concern is whether plan payments will be adequate for insurers to maintain their contracts with Medicare to provide services. When Congress cut plan payments too deeply in the past, insurers pulled out of markets all over the United States, leaving millions of seniors scrambling to find another health plan - most often at higher out-of-pocket cost..First, the payroll tax cut undermines the self–sustaining nature of Social Security and for the first time in more than seventy years, the program has become reliant on the federal government's general revenues. Under the law, the government must provide Social Security's Trust Fund with a dollar–for–dollar replacement for any lost revenues due to the tax cut. In 2011, the government's reimbursement funds accounted for 13 percent of Social Security's income. TSCL finds it troubling that the tax cut has disrupted the financing structure of Social Security, which has worked seamlessly since the program's inception..First, the bipartisan Consumer Price Index for the Elderly Act gained one new cosponsor in Representative Mark DeSaulnier, bringing the total up to fifty. If signed into law, the bill which was introduced by Representative John Garamendi last year would improve the adequacy of the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment by basing it on the spending patterns of older Americans..To learn more about the programs contact your local Medicaid office or call and ask about programs, that help pay for your Medicare premiums..This years study of retiree costs found that between January of 2000 and January of 2019, Social Security COLAs increased Social Security benefits by 50 percent, but the costs of goods and services purchased by typical retirees rose more than twice as fast - 100.3 percent. Food and medical costs - particularly for fresh fruits and vegetables, and prescription drugs - were among the most rapidly - rising costs over the past year. The study examines the growth since 2000 in price of goods and services that are typical for retired and disabled households, and, compares them to the growth in Social Security benefits due to annual COLAs.