TSCL's Board of Trustees Visits Capitol Hill .TSCL has long supported adding vision, dental and hearing benefits to Medicare, as well as supporting legislation to lower prescription drug prices. We are waiting to see what the final bills look like that come out of the House and Senate before we determine what kind of endorsement to give. .However, if you live in a group setting (like a correctional or detention facility or group home) and are around someone who has COVID-19, you should still stay away from others for 14 days and get tested, even if you do not have symptoms. .Fraud, waste and abuse are costing taxpayers and seniors an estimated billion a year, but Medicare fails to recover overpayments about 80 percent of the time. The Inspector General recently said that of the 6,287,546 in overpayments identified through the 30-month period ending March 31, 2009, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reported collecting only ,168,50But it gets even worse. The OIG said that it could not verify that the ,168,502 had been collected as reported because CMS did not have an adequate system for documenting overpayment collections. .The Senate, where Republicans hold the majority, has yet to make a decision as to whether to defer taxes for its employees. .The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) will be monitoring CR discussions in the Senate in the coming hours and days, and we will post updates on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, we will continue to monitor ongoing budget discussions since they are expected to include plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. As was noted in a recent legislation update, repealing the law would impact the Medicare program in several ways. For instance, progress that has been made to close the prescription drug "doughnut hole" would be reversed, and the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund that finances Medicare Part A would lose an important stream of funding that the law created. The Trust Fund could face immediate depletion if eliminated. .The hold harmless provision in the Social Security Act (§1839[f]) is an important protection that ensures an individual's net Social Security benefit will not decrease from one year to the next because of an increase in the Part B premium. .Check to see if your drug plan has a deductible, and how much the deductible should be. The number of drug plans that are charging a deductible increased in 2020, and a larger percentage of the plans is charging the full standard deductible of 5 in 2020. A deductible is the amount you pay before your coverage kicks in. Deductibles can vary in how they are applied. You may get coverage for generics from day one, but you are probably going to be required to satisfy a deductible for your Eliquis. Of particular note, enrollees in the SilverScript Choice plan paid no deductible in many regions of the U.S. last year, but they will pay as much as 5 in 2020. A similar situation affects enrollees of the Humana Enhanced plan, who paid no deductible in 201For those who chose to remain in the plan — which is now called Humana Premier Rx, they will pay a 5 deductible. .In the meantime, TSCL would like to remind you that many Senators and Representatives will attend local events or schedule town hall meetings while they are in their home states and districts, giving constituents an excellent opportunity to voice their concerns. We encourage you to approach your Members of Congress and request their support for fair cost-of-living adjustments, Notch fairness, a permanent "doc fix," and other key issues.