Check to see if Eliquis is covered by your drug plan and the cost sharing for the tier in which it is listed. Many drug plans have five tiers covering preferred generics, generics, preferred brands, non-preferred brands and specialty drugs. Check to see where Eliquis fits in on these tiers (probably preferred or non-preferred brand). It's not uncommon for insurers to move a drug from preferred brand to non-preferred brand status, causing you to pay more out-of-pocket. For example, your plan in 2019 may have charged a co-pay of for preferred brands, but if Eliquis was moved into a non-preferred tier in 2020 you might have to pay 50% co-insurance or about 5.00. .If Congress does not pass the new legislation, there will be a 2% cut starting April 1 and then a 4% cut in Medicare funding amounting to billion in early 202The cuts would be in place for each of the next five years. .The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith (D-Wash.) has announced that if the bill is vetoed the House will come back into session over the holidays and vote to override. ."This year is particularly difficult to forecast with certainty," Johnson says. "The inflation patterns, caused in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were unprecedented in my experience," she says. .He announced that he would meet with the drug companies to discuss his plan, but top company executives subsequently refused to meet with him. The drug companies did develop their own proposal but it was rejected by the President. .Rep. DeFazio's No Loopholes in Social Security Taxes Act (H.R. 1029) also gained new cosponsors this week. Five Members of Congress signed on, bringing the total up to twenty-five. The new cosponsors are: Reps. Robert Scott (VA-3), Collin Peterson (MN-7), Grace Napolitano (CA-32), William Enyart (IL-12), and Barbara Lee (CA-13). The bill, if signed into law, would subject all income over 0,000 to the Social Security payroll tax. Currently, the payroll tax is capped at 3,700 and no income over that amount is taxed. Rep. DeFazio's bill would reportedly add at least fifty years to the solvency of the Trust Fund responsibly, without reducing benefits for seniors. ."The bill has been fiercely opposed by Republicans and the branded pharmaceutical industry, which would likely lose revenue if the bill passed, leading to 40 fewer new drugs coming to the market in the U.S. over the next two decades, according to the CBO estimate. .Both chambers of Congress adjourned for the President's Day Holiday this week and are expected to return to Capitol Hill on Monday, February 25th. Meanwhile, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, former co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, released a new proposal that would avert the looming sequester and trim .4 trillion from the deficit. In addition, two Members of Congress re-introduced a critical bill that would extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund without cutting benefits. .This week, the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R.1205, S.915) gained one new cosponsor in Congressman Steve Stivers (OH-15), bringing the new cosponsor total up to 16In the Senate, the bill gained six new cosponsors in Senator Bill Nelson (FL), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA), Senator Mazie Hirono (HI), Senator Jack Reed (RI), and Senator Patrick Leahy (VT). If signed into law, the Social Security Fairness Act would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) – two Social Security provisions that unfairly reduce the earned benefits of millions of public employees each year.