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and puts the coverage of low-income older adults who receive Medicaid in jeopardy, including the majority of the nation's nursing home patients.".On Friday, SSA announced that Social Security benefits will increase by 2% percent beginning in January 201While the 2018 cost-of-living adjustment is the largest increase in five years, it continues a trend of abnormally low benefit growth..We are closely watching how the foreign drug index would be structured and evaluating how prices would be adjusted. We are highly concerned that a greater portion of the high cost of these drugs that are administered in doctors offices and clinics could wind up getting shifted to Medicare patients either in the form of higher co-pays and co-insurance, or higher premiums..You have a face-to-face meeting with a doctor within 90 days before starting home healthcare, or 30 days after the first day you receive care.."This is an important perspective to have in our current legislative environment," says Johnson. Some Members of Congress are discussing indexing the COLA to the more slowly growing "chained" consumer price index. "The current index used to calculate the COLA already understates inflation experienced by retired beneficiaries, because it doesn't adequately represent the spending of older consumers," Johnson explains. "A more slowly growing index would only exacerbate the problem of maintaining the buying power of Social Security benefits over time," she says..At what age do you think most people retire? According to the Social Security Administration, the largest group retires at age 62 with reduced benefits! Only 4% wait to start benefits at 70, the age at which they would get the maximum amount. Could the fact that most people file for Social Security benefits so early be simply because they hear so often that they can do so at 62? Does 62 become a distorting anchor on our thinking?.The results of not having a formal leader are apparent. As expert witness Max Richtman of the National Committee to Preserve Social security and Medicare described, disability appeals can take over six hundred days to process and ten thousand people die each year waiting for decisions on their appeals..The Post added, "Outside the administration, Trump's intended drug debit cards are drawing criticism from the pharmaceutical industry, budget and health policy experts of both political parties, and even a conservative publication.".Rick Delaney, Chairman of the Board, TSCL