In September, federal agents announced the arrests of 35 people linked to a huge genetic testing scam. Individuals charged are accused of billing Medicare for more than .1 billion worth of phony genetic tests. The crackdown included telemedicine companies, doctors, and labs which worked in an elaborate scheme that preyed on people's fears of having genetic markers for cancer. .The responsibility is on you to notify the SSA of your age, and file an application for retirement benefits based on your own earnings, if higher. As you continue working past age 66, the retirement benefit you receive based on your own earnings continues to grow. That retirement credit is only applied until age 70; however, there's no additional increase thereafter, so put in your claim now. .This year, I am currently gathering support for the Medicare Advantage Quality Payment Relief Act, which would require the HHS Secretary to take Medicare Advantage Quality Incentive payments out of the calculation of the Medicare Advantage benchmark cap. This will allow high performing plans to receive the quality payments that they rightfully earned and to use those payments to improve beneficiary care. .This week, one new cosponsor – Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA-1) – signed on to Rep. Peter DeFazio's (OR-4) No Loopholes in Social Security Taxes Act (H.R. 1029), bringing the total up to thirty-one. If signed into law, the bill would extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund by subjecting all income over 0,000 to the Social Security payroll tax. Currently, the payroll tax cap sits at 7,000, and no income over that amount is taxed. .TSCL is registered as a 501(c)(4) citizens action organization. Open to anyone concerned about protecting earned benefits, TSCL is registered to conduct grass roots lobbying, public education, and fundraising activities in nearly every state. No government moneys are accepted or utilized by TSCL. .Medicaid Cuts Would Hit Notch Babies And Families Hardest .Benefits haven't kept pace with the cost of living and all changes that have occurred over the last 50 years. … .The Senate Finance Committee recently passed The Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act out of committee and now it heads to the floor for further action. The bill, which has support of both Democrats and Republicans would, among other things, cap drug prices based on the rate of inflation. .TSCL believes the regulations could be costly to seniors and to Medicare. Alternative therapy and medical approaches are used by millions of Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated, that the U.S. public spent between billion to billion on CAM therapies in 1997, an amount that was more than the U.S. public paid out-of-pocket for all hospitalizations in that year, and an amount that was approximately one-half of that paid by the U.S. public for all out-of-pocket physicians' services.