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Giving COVID vaccines in school gymnasiums and community centers has been just as healing for those giving the shots as for those of us getting them. Our vaccine hall was bubbling with excited happy voices and laughter. The moment I entered I was struck by how strange and rare that laughter had become and how much I had missed that sound!.What would happen if the Supreme Court rules against Obamacare now that people already have purchased coverage? Will I have to repay my premium assistance subsidies? I qualified for ,456 in premium subsidies last year alone. Will plans be allowed to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions again?.So even as this is being written there are reports coming that Congressional leaders are close to a deal on both the legislation to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year as well as a new coronavirus economic stimulus bill..When Medicare solvency is under discussion, the focus is often placed on the Medicare Part A Trust Fund, which is primarily financed by payroll taxes. The last time Medicare Part A Trust Fund was forecast to become insolvent was in 200That year, the Medicare Trust Fund was forecast to become insolvent by 201In 2010, Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act which changed Medicare revenues in two ways. It added an additional payroll tax of 0.9% to the 1.45% of Medicare taxes paid by high earning individuals with wages over 0,000. A second provision affecting individuals with this level of income, imposed a new 3.8% tax on a portion of net investment income. Estates and trusts can also be subject to this tax..If we closed this loophole, we could ensure that Social Security continues paying full benefits to every single American who pays in, just as they were promised..As an indicator of low inflation, based on consumer price index data through April of this year, Johnson estimates that the COLA for 2019 will be about 1.7%percent. That number could change, since there are still five months of consumer price index data to be collected before the Social Security Administration announces the COLA in October..More Americans are spending more years in retirement, but have little or no retirement savings. Fewer employers are offering retirement plans and participation from workers is low among those who do. According to a study by the Schwartz Center for Economic Analysis at the New School, the median net worth among households near retirement show that only about a quarter can expect an adequate cash income stream from their retirement savings..The BPC released its own estimate of the impacts of a coronavirus recession on Social Security, projecting that it would accelerate the depletion of the trust fund from 2035 to 202Without any changes, a depletion of the Social Security trust fund would trigger program wide benefit cuts of 23%, as benefits adjust to the level of revenues still received by the program..The legislation prevents a 19% Social Security disability benefit cut by a short-term reallocation of payroll tax revenue in 2016 through 201This would be sufficient to pay benefits until 2022 and would not affect the 2034 depletion date of the Social Security retirement trust fund, according to Social Security's Chief Actuary.