The TSCL survey found that, to improve Medicare's finances, seniors strongly support ramping up anti-fraud efforts, and better integration of care to reduce duplications of tests, services, and expensive imaging. What do you think? Take a poll. Visit TSCL's website at . .Medicare Therapy Caps: A Long Battle for Patient Access .The judge's order stops the implementation of the rule until the completion of the notice and comment process. .Older Americans have lost more than 22% of their purchasing power since 2000, and this year Social Security beneficiaries received no COLA despite a national survey indicating a majority reported higher costs. Do you support legislation that would give seniors an emergency COLA before the end of this year? .We are still learning how effective the vaccines are against variants of the virus that causes COVID-1Early data show the vaccines may work against some variants but could be less effective against others. ."This year is particularly difficult to forecast with certainty," Johnson says. "The inflation patterns, caused in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were unprecedented in my experience," she says. .This week, lawmakers in the House and Senate voted to begin conference negotiations on legislation to overhaul the tax code. Representatives in the House passed their tax reform bill last month, and Senators in the Senate passed their version last Friday, with a vote of 51-4Members of the bicameral conference committee have been busy ironing out the differences between the two bills this week, and they hope to have a deal reached before they adjourn for the holiday recess on December 22nd. .Over the past 25 years, Congress has periodically debated plans to fix Social Security's financing, that rely heavily on benefit cuts. But for the first time in 2019 and 2020, Congress is considering a plan to strengthen Social Security and its benefits while making the program solvent by beefing up the payroll tax revenues flowing into the program. .In a statement issued early this week, America's Health Insurance Plans, an advocacy organization for insurers, wrote: "Reports from leading industry analysts show broad consensus that the CMS proposal, if finalized, would result in Medicare Advantage payment cuts of at least 4 percent in 2015 and likely much higher once other changes are factored in." But in a statement of their own, representatives from CMS countered: "The proposed changes for 2015 for Medicare Advantage are smaller than those implemented in 2014 – a year in which CMS expects to exceed its 5 percent enrollment growth projection." They went on to claim that the 2015 MA cut will actually result in lower premiums and better care for seniors.