Last week, in a last ditch attempt to try and come up with new legislation, Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Meadows met with the leaders of the House and Senate see if they could reach a compromise. They could not. One of the big reasons was the overall cost of the legislation and in the amount of money that would be given to those who are unemployed because of the pandemic. .You can gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household (for example, visiting with relatives who all live together) without masks, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. .SGR Repeal Unlikely This Month .TSCL's members and supporters tend to be older, less affluent seniors. They are also, to a large extent, Notch victims — those individuals who receive lower Social Security benefits because they were born between the years 1917 and 1926. .We enthusiastically support H.R. 1811 and H.R. 1716, and we were pleased to see support grow for both bills this week. .TSCL is relieved that Congress has finally reached an agreement after weeks of heated negotiations. Another government shutdown like the one that occurred for sixteen days in 2013 could have resulted in delayed Social Security checks or interrupted reimbursements for doctors who treat Medicare patients. We will follow the movement of the deal very closely in the coming days, until it is signed into law by President Obama. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook or our new Twitter page for frequent updates. .TSCL is hopeful that President Trump will lend his support to the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, since we believe it would go a long way in reducing the costs of lifesaving medications for beneficiaries. We will continue to advocate for it on Capitol Hill, and we hope to see it signed into law before the end of the 115th Congress. For more information, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. .TSCL is hopeful that lawmakers will successfully repeal and replace the SGR before the looming deadline, since doing so would bring much-needed stability to the Medicare program. We will continue to monitor the negotiations in the coming weeks, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website. .Unlike other types of health insurance, Part D plans do not have a fixed annual out-of-pocket maximum, and you could potentially continue to spend even more than ,100 this year. While that's a huge sum for just prescription drugs, the out-of-pocket threshold "re-sets" and it starts all over again next year. Unless Congress takes action, the out-of-pocket threshold is scheduled to make a steep increase in 2020 to ,250, due to an expiring provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.