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Squeeze your home for cash - If your home can be divided into.This cost shift hits includes retirees with the lowest incomes. Specifically it hits their state Medicaid budgets that pay Part B premiums for low-income Medicare beneficiaries - about 19% of all Medicare recipients. If Medicare Part B premiums go up by more than .40 per month in 2021, that would add yet another fiscal shock to state budgets that are already strained to the limit due to the coronavirus pandemic..Instead, my legislation promotes true market competition, which will both improve the quality of our prescription drugs and lower their price. It helps seniors by making sure generic drug makers can make high-quality, lower-priced prescription medications available sooner. In fact, according to a preliminary analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, this should save consumers and the federal government billions of dollars. That's right, billions with a B..An estimated 39 million Medicare beneficiaries spend up to 29 percent of their Social Security benefits on healthcare costs, according to a new survey by The Senior Citizens League. "That's a huge chunk of one's household budget, and chances are that many of those people are paying too much for premiums, deductibles, and out of pocket costs," says Mary Johnson a Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. "One of the best financial moves that Medicare beneficiaries can make is to review health and drug plan coverage and compare options during Medicare's Fall Open Enrollment Period, which starts October 15 and runs through December 7, 2021," Johnson says. "For many people, it could potentially save hundreds of dollars, making the difference between having to split pills or going without, versus to covering all prescriptions and still winding up with a little cash left over," says Johnson, who helps her friends and family with the task..Seventy-eight percent of participants in TSCL's 2019 Senior Survey think Congress should establish an out-of-pocket spending cap. In December of last year, prescription drug legislation, H.R.3, the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act was passed by the House. In addition to allowing Medicare to negotiate drug costs, the House bill would cap Part D's annual out - of - pocket costs for prescription drugs, starting at ,000 per year..Notch Reform is far from being over though. Officially there are more co-sponsors of "The Notch Fairness Act" than ever before at the end of the first year of a session of Congress and support is ahead of last-sessions record-breaking numbers. With enough co-sponsors signed on, TSCL and the grass roots can help force the bill to the floor for a straight up and down vote. We urge you, and the families of all Notch Babies, to contact your Members of Congress. Ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 615, and enact "The Notch Fairness Act.".Higher benefit costs may not be a financial choice for the majority of seniors. Half of all survey respondents report spending 11% to 33% of their Social Security benefit on healthcare costs, and another 22% reported spending 34% to 50% of their benefit. The following table illustrates how respondents answered..Due to a loop hole in Social Security law, the pending controversial Totalization Agreement, signed in June 2004, would allow millions of Mexican workers, and dependents on their accounts, to become entitled to Social Security benefits that include credit for earnings received while working illegally. If allowed to take effect, TSCL believes hundreds of billions in Social Security benefits are at stake..The Supreme Court has agreed to hear another Obamacare challenge in February or March. The outcome could have enormous financial impact on millions of people who purchased their health insurance through, the online federal health insurance exchange.