It's true that public opinion can sway votes in Congress, especially during a critical election year like this one. TSCL strongly believes that grassroots lobbying is the most effective way for the public to communicate with elected Members of Congress. Our members spoke loudly and clearly when they signed more than 1.5 million petitions, and many Congressional offices met our deliveries with surprise and gratitude. We look forward to partnering with many of those offices in the future to ensure that Congress lives up to the commitments it has made to seniors. .When working Social Security recipients who are younger than full retirement age earn more than the annual earnings limit amount, their benefits will be reduced. The Social Security Administration likes to point out that these benefit reductions are "not truly lost because your benefit will be increased at your full retirement age to account for benefits withheld due to earlier earnings." But as you have discovered, you can sometimes wind up owing money to Social Security that was not withheld properly. .My mother has suffered a stroke and needs to move to an assisted living facilty. She is having problems qualifying for Medicaid. Her only asset is her small apartment that we are trying to sell, but it could take months in this market. Most of the nursing facilities require ,000 and more per month. Is there anything I can do to help her qualify sooner? .We gave you the bad news about eating fried foods, which really is nothing very new. But there was some hopeful news last week that we want to pass along. ."Public health officials were quick to tout J&J's data as a strong result, particularly given that regulators initially said a vaccine would only have to be 50% effective to be authorized. A vaccine that is 66% effective is an incredibly powerful tool in fighting respiratory viruses, they stressed. ‘We would be celebrating a seasonal influenza vaccine with 60% efficacy,' Jay Butler, the deputy director for infectious diseases at the CDC, told reporters. .Sources: "Issues and Challenges In Measuring And Improving The Quality Of Health Care," The Congressional Budget Office, December 201"What Is Value-Based Healthcare?" NEJM Catalyst, January 1, 201"After Single Payer Failed, Vermont Embarks On A Big Health Care Experiment," Carolyn Johnson, The Washington Post, September 17, 2017. .The Senior Citizens League believes that expanding "means testing" to Part D and freezing the income levels through 2019 is a backdoor benefit cut that will eventually affect even middle-income seniors. The chief reason is that as the economy grows over the next decade, the frozen income thresholds will not increase in-kind, subjecting many more seniors to the "means test." The Senior Citizens League estimates that given different inflation scenarios, individual seniors who made between ,000 and ,000 in 2010 could be subjected to the "means test" in 2019, because of the frozen income thresholds. In addition, if the income thresholds for the "means test" had been allowed to increase, (the case before the PPACA was signed into law), we estimate that they would have increased to an amount between 0,500 to 1,800 in 2019. .The government has made it much easier to drop out of an older supplemental Medigap plan and join a new Medicare Advantage plan than the other way around. In fact, if you drop your older supplement, you may not be able to get it back again should you discover your new plan is not what you thought it would be. Failure to read the fine print can expose you to thousands of dollars in unexpected out-of-pocket costs should you require even just a few days of hospitalization or have a health condition that requires multiple visits to the doctor and lab services. .Survey participants also support making changes to modestly increase benefits by using a senior CPI, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), to determine the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA), and to provide a boost of about per month. TSCL is meeting with Members of Congress to enact these changes. With 73% of survey participants reporting that their household expenses in 2015 rose by more than a month, while average Social Security benefits are stuck around ,250 due to low or no COLAs, TSCL is making a strong case that older Americans need a raise!