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TSCL supports legislation that would provide a more fair and adequate Social Security benefit by calculating COLAs using the Consumer Price Index for Elderly to calculate the annual increase. How do low Social Security increases and rapidly rising costs affecting you? TSCL wants to hear from you! Visit..Another critical step toward lowering costs is giving Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices. In December 2019, I helped pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act with the support of both Democrats and Republicans. This commonsense bill would give Medicare Part D the power to negotiate directly with drug companies. Currently, Medicare is prohibited by law from negotiating for lower prices..However, according to a message from Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, she has looked into this and discovered an error in the CARES Act that was passed in March and gave economic aid to individuals and companies in the U.S., that could result in Medicare beneficiaries having to pay out of pocket for a vaccine..There were certain federal health programs set to expire at the end of May, but the expiration date was extended to Nov. 30 in one of the recently passed bills to deal with the coronavirus situation..TSCL is especially concerned about how seniors and their families would be informed about the change of health plans. Dual eligible seniors are more likely to have cognitive challenges, and their family caregivers may not understand that a transition to a new health plan is taking place, or how to navigate the changes. TSCL is particularly concerned that seniors may not be able to keep their former doctors and other healthcare providers if those providers don't participate under the new plans. If so, this raises the potential for unintended and uncovered costs, if seniors unwittingly continue to see their former doctor or present the wrong health plan card when visiting providers..Most Americans are under-informed about their Social Security retirement choices, and they don't mind saying so. The fact is the Social Security Administration isn't structured to provide understandable personal guidance or one-on-one counseling. It's almost totally automated and dependent on applicants having access to a computer and a good internet connection..Medicare Extra Help helps pay for some, or most, of the out-of-pocket costs for Medicare prescription drug coverage. It is also known as the Part D "Low-Income" subsidy. Extra Help pays for the Part D premium up to a certain amount, lowers the cost of your prescription drugs, gives you special enrollment periods to switch plans, and eliminates the Part D late enrollment penalty if you did not enroll in Part D by your original deadline. If your income is under ,615 or ,175 and you have limited savings and resources, you might be eligible. Apply for Medicare Extra Help on the Social Security website..Elizabeth Curda of the Government Accountability Office explained that the operating system for filing and processing these claims was built in the 1950s and requires .1 billion just to maintain, not to improve, the system. Max Stier from the Partnership for Public Service said: "We have a legacy government that hasn't kept up with the world.".To say the least, it is controversial and there is reason to doubt it works. We know for sure that it is incredibly expensive. Having said that, here is some of the information we have seen.