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puts coverage of 52 million Americans with pre-existing conditions into question,.So it could be significant this week that a Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission, Christine Wilson, stated that she believes Medicare should have more power to negotiate drug prices. She acknowledged that her position would be controversial among her fellow Republicans because they argue that allowing Medicare to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies would essentially allow Medicare to set drug prices and stifle development of innovative new drugs. As the year progresses, we shall see if her views make any difference..an average of ,600 a month..Most Americans contribute 6.2 percent of every paycheck to Social Security, but workers earning over 2,900 contribute nothing over that amoun,t due to a payroll tax cap. Around 75% of Social Security beneficiaries believe the Social Security taxable maximum should be eliminated to extend the solvency of the Trust Funds responsibly, without cutting benefits. Do you agree?.I've received numerous automated phone calls offering "free" Medicare-covered items like back braces and diabetes supplies. I'm not 65, not eligible for Medicare yet and I'm on the national DO NOT CALL list. Are suppliers allowed to do this?."'The risks are known. The benefits are still in question,'" said Zaldy Tan, a neurologist and medical director of the Center for Alzheimer's and Memory Disorders at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. ".According to Rep. Deutch, the bill would extend the solvency of the Social Security trust funds for decades into the future by ensuring that the wealthiest Americans contribute to the program at the same rate as everyone else. Upon its introduction, he said, "Currently, most Americans contribute 6.2 percent of every paycheck they earn to Social Security, while a corporate lawyer earning 0,000 pays an annual rate of just 1.71 percent and a CEO earning million pays an annual rate of just 0.003 percent.".TSCL's annual senior survey, conducted from January through March of this year, confirmed that monthly household expenses made steep increases over the past year. The majority, 67%, indicated their monthly expenses went up by more than With today's Social Security benefit averaging ,320 per month, this is an unsustainable level of rising spending when there's just a 0.3% benefit increase to match..The 2017 tax law contained a provision for all taxpayers, that temporarily increased the deduction for qualified medical expenses. Taxpayers are allowed to deduct qualified medical expenses in excess of 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income for the 2017 and 2018 tax years. In 2019, the threshold will become less generous for all taxpayers, rising to the excess over 10 percent of AGI.