Members of the House adjourned for a week-long recess on Monday, but budget talks continued for the lawmakers that sit on the bicameral conference committee. While many have reportedly been meeting behind closed doors, Sen. Bernard Sanders (VT) took his message public in a news conference that announced his opposition to including entitlement cuts in a budget package. He said this week, "On these issues, Congress is way out of touch. The American people do not want to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid." .In 2008, an audit by the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Office of Inspector General found that spouses did not always receive the higher retirement benefits due them. Although 18,768 spouses were identified as eligible for higher retirement benefits in that audit and the SSA developed a notification letter, the agency took no further action to notify beneficiaries – citing "limited resources." As a result, these spouses never received the higher retirement benefits for which they were eligible. .Prosecutors say Marrero used his ill-gotten proceeds to collect a couple of Lamborghinis, a Ferrari and a Bentley. The indictment stated that Marrero and his wife also paid thousands of dollars a month to a "recruiter," Enrique Rodriguez, who supplied patients having Medicare cards. Rodriguez is accused of bribing patients to participate. .Recently Congressional Budget Office estimated in its September budget outlook, that Medicare outlays for 2020 would rise about 12 percent — roughly double the rate forecast by the Medicare Trustees in their April 2020 report. This suggests that the Medicare Part B premium increase for 2021 could be about .40 per month higher in 2021, rising from 4.60 to 2.00. But even this estimate does not include the full impact of cost shifting that occurs when people with low Social Security benefits are protected from reductions due to high Medicare Part B premium increases. Thus, the base monthly Part B premium increase for 2020 could be even higher than .40, and closer to the spike seen in 2016. .Under current law, if an illegal immigrant eventually gets a work-authorized Social Security number through "guest worker" immigration legislation, or work covered under the Totalization Agreement, that worker could then eventually apply for Social Security benefits once eligibility requirements are met. Regardless of citizenship status, once an immigrant has a "work-authorized" Social Security number, that person may claim credit for all earnings, even those earned while working illegally. .TSCL strongly supports legislation that would allow Medicare negotiation of drug costs. .Sources: "Congress Kills Social Security Claiming Loopholes," Alicia Munnell, Market Watch, November 11, 2015. .Key Social Security Bill Re-Introduced .According to a report in The Hill, a Washington, D.C., newspaper, "There are further administrative steps that need to happen before the proposal will actually take effect and result in lower drug prices. The secretary of Health and Human Services will have to issue the details of the proposal, and there will be an array of questions as to how the policy will work in practice.