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The previous changes have not only resulted in cutting the growth of COLAs received by Social Security recipients, but those of military retirees and COLA recipients in all other federal benefit programs as well. They came after a 1996 government commission headed by economist Michael Boskin said the CPI overstated the rate of inflation, and thus "overpaid" COLA recipients. Proponents of slowing COLA growth today make the same argument..Eliminates the Part D late enrollment penalty if you delayed signing up for Part D when you first qualified..There's an old saying: "Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made.".More than 5 million Social Security recipients with the lowest benefits are unlikely to see any net growth in their monthly checks after deduction of the Medicare Part B premium in 2019, according to a new analysis released by The Senior Citizens League. This will occur despite their receiving the highest cost-of-living adjustment in seven years. Those affected have a gross Social Security benefit of about 5 per month or less before deduction of the Part B premium. According to the analysis, the dollar amount of their Part B premium increase will be more than the dollar amount of their COLA. "This would make the fourth year in a row that this particular group has not seen a boost in their net Social Security benefits after the deduction for Medicare Part B premiums," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for the League.\.Administration Making Efforts To Rein In Medicare Fraud.Illegal immigrants get jobs using counterfeit, invalid, and stolen Social Security numbers that employers use to withhold payroll taxes and report earnings to the Social Security Administration. Immigration advocates argue that unauthorized workers have little chance of collecting benefits. But once illegal workers gain a valid Social Security that changes. Social Security Administration policy allows noncitizens who have evidence of earnings, even for jobs worked under invalid Social Security numbers, to claim and reinstate those earnings for use in determining entitlement once they obtain their own Social Security number. The earnings are then used to determine the initial retirement benefit amount..Legislation that would tie COLAs to an index that measures inflation experienced by older households, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, has recently been reintroduced. The CPI-E tends to grow more quickly that the CPI-W in most, but not every, year. "2021 is one of those times when gasoline prices soar and the CPI-W would yield the higher COLA," Johnson says. "If the COLA for 2022 were based on the CPI-E, we estimate it would be 5 percent compared to the 6.2 percent that we estimate for the CPI-W," Johnson notes. The Senior Citizens League works to protect and strengthen Social Security benefits and program financing..A tax reform plan being floated by the House GOP would meet strong opposition from activists and older voters, warns The Senior Citizens League. The plan would end the 12.4 percent payroll tax that funds the monthly checks of about 60 million current Social Security beneficiaries. "This proposal would sabotage Social Security for both current and future Social Security recipients," warns Mary Johnson, Social Security policy analyst for TSCL..Here's an example of how it might work for you if you receive ,400 from your 401 and ,600 from your IRA. To figure your provisional income, take one - half of your Social Security = ,000. Let's say the taxable portion of your 401 is ,200, and of your IRA is the full ,600. That adds up to a provisional income of ,800 and a portion of your Social Security benefits would be taxable.