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An excessively low COLA triggers an important provision of law that ensures an individual's net Social Security benefit will not decrease from one year to the next because of an increase in the Part B premium. That's valuable protection. But when the provision is triggered there's no law which specifies how the unpaid portion of Medicare Part B premium increases will be financed..Let's be clear about this. No one is saying that the effort to cut Medicare and/or Social Security will come this year or next..Because her stay was as an outpatient, not an inpatient, she also would not qualify for Medicare coverage of follow-up nursing home care, even though her doctor told her she needed it. To be eligible for nursing home care, beneficiaries must have spent at least three nights in the hospital admitted as an inpatient..COLAs act much like interest rates on savings. Low COLAs mean Social Security benefits grow more slowly in retirement. This occurs even though many costs experienced by retirees, such out - of - pocket spending on prescription drugs - may grow several times as fast. "People who have been retired for 10 years or longer have absorbed the full financial blow of low COLAs," Johnson says. Johnson's analysis found that, over a ten - year period, average Social Security benefits of ,075 per month in 2009 lost a total of ,258 in financial growth from 2010 to 2019 when compared to the previous decade when COLAs averaged 3 percent. By the end of that 10 year period, average benefits were 3 per month lower than they would have been had inflation averaged the more typical 3 percent..Senator Bernie Sanders introduced S. 99 on January 10, 201It has since been referred to the Committee on Finance..Since its inception, Medicare has undergone a number of changes. Since 1972 the program has covered disabled persons under 6In the last 25 years, beneficiaries were given the option to obtain services through private managed care arrangements. And most recently, the passage of the Affordable Care Act strengthened Medicare by closing the prescription "donut hole" and expanding preventative services with no deductible or co-pay..TSCL agrees that the WEP and the GPO must be repealed as soon as possible so that public employees receive the retirement benefits they have earned and deserve. We look forward to working closely with Sen. Brown in the coming months to help build support for his important new bill..Claim a health law exemption if under 65 and uninsured. If you did not have health coverage in some or all of 2014, you might qualify for an exemption. As of September 30, 2014, the website lists 22 of them here. These include reasons such as the lowest-priced coverage available would have cost more than 8% of your household income, or your individual plan was cancelled and you believe other Marketplace plans are unaffordable. To claim the exemption you can apply now. Be sure to use the right form, found on. You may also wait to claim the exemptions when you fill out your 2014 tax return, due April 15, 2015..For information about town hall meetings near you in the days ahead, call the local offices of your elected officials. For contact information, click HERE.