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Upon introducing the bill, Sen. Brown said, "For many Americans, Social Security benefits are the foundation of their retirement security. But many of our public sector workers like teachers and first-responders have seen their benefits reduced for years because of unfair laws that target them … These workers have taught our children and kept our communities safe. It's time they receive equal treatment under Social Security law.".All beneficiaries get a notification letter from the Social Security Administration explaining the amount of their benefits and the amount that will be deducted for Part B and any other deductions. "Those with the lowest benefits less than 0 per month in 2020 - are at risk of seeing their Medicare Part B premium consume their entire COLA," Johnson notes..Retirement accounts allow your savings to grow tax-deferred, but the rules change when you turn age 70 ½. At 70 ½, traditional IRAs require the owner to take required minimum withdrawals and you can't contribute any more savings. But you can still continue to put money into other types of retirement accounts, including Roth IRAs and some types of 401s, as long as you have earnings from jobs..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..TSCL does not give money to campaigns for political office and in one way that puts us at a disadvantage as compared with the big corporations. But we have something they do not have: YOU..House Republicans surprised the nation earlier this year by approving an increase to the federal budget debt limit in exchange for passing the "No Budget, No Pay Act." The legislation required Members of Congress in both chambers to pass a budget resolution by April 15, 2013, or their pay would be withheld until they do. According to a TSCL poll, 62 percent of seniors thought the "No Budget, No Pay Act" was a smart move that would get the legislative process back on track.."Sudden Price Spikes in Decades-Old Prescription Drugs," Testimony of Berna Heyman to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, April 27, 201"High-Price Drugs Are Increasing Federal Payments For Medicare Part D Catastrophic Coverage," Daniel Levinson, Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, January 2017..The government negotiates prescription drug prices for Medicaid and for veterans, but it is barred from doing so for Medicare Part D beneficiaries. As a result, senior citizens enrolled in Part D often pay much higher prices for their prescriptions than other Americans. Will you support the bipartisan Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act ?.The twenty-nine member budget conference seemed to reach a standstill this week. Three weeks remain before the official December 13th deadline, but House and Senate appropriators requested a top-line spending number before November 22nd the start of the week-long Thanksgiving recess and the conferees failed to deliver.