How would this compare with the "senior" CPI, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly ? Estimates for TSCL indicate that if the CPI-E were to be used to determine the COLA for 2017 the COLA would be 1.7% - 1.1% higher than COLAs under the CPI-W, but federal poverty levels will rise as well.." The new Obama Administration policy is opening Social Security to as many as 1.2 million non-citizens who won't even have legal status, " Hyland says. This is occurring at the same time Congress and the President are debating major reforms that would cut the Social Security and Medicare benefits of U.S. senior citizens who paid into the system the legal way," he adds. TSCL supports the "No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act", introduced by Representative Dana Rohrabacher, which would ban the use of earnings for jobs worked while illegal to be used to determine entitlement..If you meet all of these qualifications, you are eligible for a benefit as a divorced spouse that is equal to one-half of what your ex-spouse would receive at his full retirement age. For example, if he qualifies for a monthly benefit of ,000 at age 66, then you would qualify for ,000 per month at your full retirement age, also 6Your spouse may currently be younger than full retirement age, but his full retirement age year is simply used to determine what you would be entitled to. However, even if you qualify to do so, if you claim now, your benefit at 64 would be just 41.7% of your ex's benefit. It will be reduced because you are under your full retirement age..Medicare Part A pays for hospital in-patient care, as well as short term stays in skilled nursing facilities, home health and hospice services, in addition to covering a portion of payments paid to private insurers for the care of Medicare Advantage enrollees. It's funded through payroll taxes of 2.9% on earnings, with workers and employers each paying 1.45%. Workers pay Medicare taxes on all earnings. There is no wage limit subject to Medicare taxes as there is for Social Security..Subcommittee Discusses Social Security Windfall.Then in early 2018 when the 2017 payroll returns are filed by your employer, Social Security will verify how much you actually earned in 2017, and may repay any excess benefits that were withheld or let you know if they did not withhold enough. But beware! TSCL has learned of cases where these recalculations have been wrong and very time consuming to get corrected..House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer laid out the priorities for the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives this year. The good news is that more health care legislation is on the list..Once the committees finish their work, those in the House will vote on the bill drafted in their chamber, and those in the Senate will vote on theirs. Lawmakers will then be tasked with reconciling the differences between the two. As was mentioned last week, through the budget reconciliation process, the ACA could be repealed by the end of the month with a simple majority in the Senate..A report came out this weekend about the possibility of new major cuts to Medicare. This could result because of Senate rules about how many votes it takes to pass legislation.