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Under Medicare Part D, the government does not negotiate prices like it does for doctors' or hospital fees. Drug prices are established by the private insurers who run Part D drug plans. Those prices are based on what the plans negotiate with drug manufacturers and what drug plans want to make on the drugs in order to operate at a profit. Under current law, however, even when drug plans negotiate a rebate, the law does not require that plans pass the savings along to consumers..According to a recent nation-wide survey conducted by The Senior Citizens League, almost one-third of older taxpayers, 30 percent, say they itemize deductions for healthcare costs, and about 56 percent say that a portion of their Social Security benefits are taxable. "Taxpayers who may be postponing needed medical or dental services, getting glasses, or filling expensive prescriptions may want to consider doing so before the end of the year, in order to maximum the medical expense deduction in 2018," Johnson says..In reality, there's no need to cut or privatize Social Security in order to assure its solvency. Social Security could pay its full promised benefits for decades to come if we simply asked all Americans to pay their fair share of FICA taxes. Here's the deal: Ninety- four percent of American workers pay into Social Security all year long on every dollar they earn. The wealthiest six percent do not. They stop paying after their income hits the 8,500 cap. For people taking home million or more, that arrives just six weeks into the year. Some even finish paying just after New Year's Day. This gaping loophole allows billionaire hedge fund managers and corporate CEOs to pay a far lower percentage of their income into Social Security than teachers, police officers and healthcare workers..Like Senators Klobuchar, McCain, and Grassley, TSCL enthusiastically supports efforts by the administration to reduce prescription drug costs, and we hope to see the White House move forward on executive actions that would allow for prescription drug importation. In the meantime, we will continue to advocate on Capitol Hill for legislation like the Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act and the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act, both of which would go a long way in reducing prescription drug costs for older Americans..To say the least, it is controversial and there is reason to doubt it works. We know for sure that it is incredibly expensive. Having said that, here is some of the information we have seen..President Obama set off a firestorm of controversy announcing an ambitious set of "executive actions" to protect illegal immigrants from deportation. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently released a report confirming that many of those affected by the policy changes would be eligible for Social Security, Medicare and a wide array of federal benefits. Here are answers to frequently asked questions about executive action on immigration and how it affects Social Security and Medicare:.TSCL recently released an analysis of the proposal that estimates the chained CPI would cut the growth in average benefits of ,100 today by about ,634 over the course of a 25-year retirement, and that assumes that the economy becomes more stable soon. Nevertheless, the reductions in COLA growth compound over time, and are deepest when seniors are the oldest and sickest. By the time seniors are in their late 80s or 90s, when they are most likely to have chronic health problems, monthly benefits would be about 5 lower using the chained CPI..And there is this report from Vox News:.If that's so why hasn't anybody done it yet? The options Congress has to address the debt are dwindling and the choices that are left are wrenching.