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  • Legislative Update For Week Ending January 11 2013

    Please, share this video with your friends (use the "Share" button above or copy the URL into an email). .Finally, two new cosponsors signed on to the Preventing and Reducing Improper Medicare and Medicaid Expenditures (PRIME) Act (H.R. 2305) this week, bringing the total up to sixty-five. The new cosponsors are Reps. Tom Cotton (AR-4) and Matt Cartwright (PA-17). If signed into law, the PRIME Act would take a number of steps to comprehensively prevent fraud, waste, and abuse within Medicare and Medicaid – a problem that TSCL believes must be addressed in order to ensure that scarce program dollars are being spent properly. .Last year President Trump proposed lowering the prices of certain Medicare drug prices by tying those prices to lower prices paid in other developed countries. Under that proposal, prices would have been lower than they are now, but would still be a certain percentage higher than they are in other countries. The President was not satisfied with that idea, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. On Wednesday Azar said the President wants the proposal changed so that prices in the United States are even lower than they are in other countries. … Continued

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    The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that spending for Social Security, Medicare, other major healthcare programs, defense, and interest payments alone would require every dollar of revenue in about eight years, leaving nothing left over for the rest of the federal budget. The CBO further says that federal debt cannot grow faster than the nation's output indefinitely without causing long-term damage to the government's finances and broader economy. .Representative John Garamendi (CA-3) introduced H.R. 1553 on March 6, 201It has since been referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. .This year's study found a 3 percentage point gain in the buying power of Social Security benefits from January 2019 to January 2020. That should indicate that most retirees may have seen at least some prices go down on certain items during that period. But this is deflation — which is a strong signal that there may be no COLA next year. This year's 1.6 percent COLA was already low to begin with. A recent deep plunge in oil prices have all but wiped out the prospect of a COLA. … Continued

This week, a House committee held a high-profile hearing on recent developments in the prescription drug market, and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) saw support grow for one key bill. .58% Of Seniors Worried Their Health Plan Could Be Cancelled .Other Goods and Services: (tobacco and smoking products, haircuts and other personal services, funeral expenses). .Fixing this problem seems to be more complicated than passing a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has made it known that no Republican Senators will support raising the debt ceiling and without Republican support Democrats will have to resort to a special procedure called "reconciliation" in order to pass it because of the Senate filibuster rule. In the past there has been partisan squabbling over raising the debt ceiling but when it came right down to it both sides ended up voting to raise it. We'll find out very soon whether that will happen this time. .In short, there are two main obstacles to the "Pelosi" bill to lower drug prices: overcoming objections from House Democratic progressives and getting through the Republican opposition in the Senate. .Because of the coronavirus, however, the BLS has been unable to gather much of the information from those two categories. Therefore, although they do not use the word, they are going to guess at those costs. It may be an educated guess, but it is still a guess, nonetheless. .The annual COLA increased Social Security benefits in January of 2021 by just 1.3 percent. While the lack of inflation in 2020 did somewhat improve the buying power of Social Security benefits by 2 percentage points by the month of January 2021 — from a loss in buying power of 30 percent to a loss of 28 percent — that improvement was completely wiped out by soaring inflation in February and March of this year. .Rep. Allyson Schwartz's (PA-13) Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act (H.R. 574) also gained support this week. One new cosponsor – Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-1) – signed on, bringing the total up to thirty-four. If signed into law, Rep. Schwartz's bill would repeal and replace the SGR, bringing increased stability to the Medicare program for both physicians and beneficiaries. .Congressional support for a bi-partisan deficit reduction solution before the November 21st deadline is dwindling as each day passes. Republican co-chairman of the joint committee, Rep. Jen Hensarling (TX-5), expressed discontent with Democratic colleagues this week for rejecting the latest GOP offer. "I will give my Democratic colleagues credit for at least putting some reforms on the table, but frankly they do not solve the problem," Hensarling said.