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If signed into law, S. 2023 would take a number of steps to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, including requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate Part D drug prices, allowing the re-importation of drugs from Canada, closing the "doughnut hole" three years earlier than current law, and prohibiting "pay-for-delay" deals between drug manufacturers..To learn more about what you may itemize and how much you can deduct, visit and download instructions for Schedule A Form 1040 Itemized Deductions..In September of last year Sen. Joni Ernst talked about the need to go "behind closed doors" to reform Social Security, presumably because the American public won't stand for it being done in the open. There was more a year earlier from Majority Leader McConnell when he labeled Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid - so-called entitlements - "the real drivers of the debt" and called for them to be adjusted "to the demographics of the future."."But all bets would be off if the current payroll tax system is eliminated, or changed to something else," Johnson says. Getting rid of the payroll tax raises a great many questions as to how benefits would be calculated. Currently, retirement benefits are calculated on the 35 years of highest earnings. "Because wages tend to grow over time, replacing the current system with something else could mean lower benefits," Johnson points out..In the meantime, to comply with the new health law, people need to continue to maintain health insurance or pay a fine, because the individual mandate is still in place. And unless Congress acts to repeal Obamacare in its entirety, insurers will still be required to provide coverage despite pre-existing conditions. The big question remains, however, how millions of people will be able to afford Obabmacare coverage if no subsidies are available..Following the reception, the Board of Trustees and TSCL's legislative team spent the afternoon meeting with six Members of Congress and their top aides. Support was expressed for a number of key bills, including the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act, the Notch Fairness Act, and the Social Security Fairness Act, among others..their coverage, losing all of the money they paid..On the heels of Greenspan's recent statement, President Obama's Fiscal Commission is due to release itsplan to solve the growing U.S. deficit by December 1st of this year. The Commission is eyeing major cuts to Social Security - including cost-of-living adjustments cuts that would affect 53 million current beneficiaries..The U.S. has given billions of dollars to drug companies to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus that has infected more than 5.1 million people across the country. It has even gambled on locking in a minimum of 800 million doses as soon as the immunizations are cleared later this year or early next year.