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What financial actions have you been forced to take over the past 12 months? Please take TSCL's new Retirement Survey and let us know!.Despite the fact that so much urgently needs to be done, it is disturbing that the Senate plans to be out for at least 13 of the 34 weeks between now and the election..The index used to determine the COLA of retirees does not measure the spending patterns of retirees, but younger workers instead. Retirees, we all know, spend their money differently than younger people and must spend a far bigger share of their budgets on housing and medical costs - two categories of spending that often rise several times faster than overall inflation..That said, roughly 30 percent of beneficiaries are not protected by the provision, and they can be subject to substantial spikes in the Part B premiums. In the past, the costs of the unpaid portion of Medicare Part B premiums of those who were protected by hold harmless were shifted to those who were not protected by the provision. Because fewer people were covering the costs Medicare Part B premiums, increases were significantly higher than usual..This week, one new cosponsor Rep. John Tierney signed on to the Strengthening Social Security Act, bringing the total up fifty-seven. If signed into law, the bill would reform the Social Security program in three ways: it would adjust the benefit formula, resulting in more generous monthly benefits; it would adopt the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers, resulting in more accurate cost-of-living adjustments, and it would lift the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. H.R. 3118 would extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund responsibly, without cutting benefits for seniors..So far both Congress and President Obama have been cool to the idea of restoring funding to Meals on Wheels. That could change if Members of Congress start hearing from their senior constituents. Do you know someone who is losing their Meals on Wheels due to budget cuts? Write a letter to the editor of your local paper!.The deduction is especially important to people age 65 and over, since spending on medical expenses increases with age, and healthcare costs can be considerable. About 23 percent of participants in The Senior Citizens League's 2018 Senior Survey said they routinely itemize medical expenses. A recent report from the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation says that Medicare households spent on average ,355 in 2016 on healthcare costs that Medicare doesn't cover. That's equivalent to ,700 in 2018 adjusting for inflation..Addressing the Social Security Trust Fund shortfall by increasing both the amount of wages subject to taxation and, increasing the payroll tax rate. The bill would immediately tax wages above 0,000. That threshold would not be adjusted annually, and the current law maximum of 2,900 would continue to increase as scheduled, slowly closing the gap, until all covered earnings would be subject to payroll taxes by 204The bill would raise the payroll tax rate 0.1 percentage point per year until it reached 14.8% - 2.4% higher than today. Currently employees and employers each pay 6.2% for a total of 12.4%.."Implications Of Different Indexing Choices," Government Accountability Office, September 2006, GAO-06-804, pg. 5"GAO's Analysis of the Notch Issue," GAO, September 16, 1994, GAO/T-HEHS-94-236.