[2] Growth of the Social Security "Earnings Suspense File", Mary Johnson, TSCL February 2013. .More recently they have justified high prices by comparing them with the costs they would prevent. Expensive hepatitis C drugs, they say, avoid the need for a million liver transplant. No matter that the comparison being made is to the highly inflated costs of treating disease in American hospitals. .The next twelve months is one of the most critical periods for the nation's seniors and disabled who receive Social Security and Medicare. The failure of a special Joint Committee of Congress known as the "super committee," means automatic budget cuts totaling billions of dollars that are scheduled to kick in by 2013 unless Congress enacts different plans. Although Social Security and Medicaid appear to have escaped the knife for now, billions in Medicare spending would be cut from payments to hospitals and other providers. .This week, talks between three committees – the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee – to repeal and replace the SGR seemed to have stalled. The three committees are currently working on merging their own separate bills to repeal the outdated formula and set up a sustainable path forward. They have until March 31st to do so. Should they fail to reach a compromise, doctors who treat Medicare patients will see a pay cut of approximately 25 percent, which could threaten seniors' access to quality medical care. .The benefit reduction would be caused by a feature of the Social Security benefit formula that is sensitive to economic recessions and high unemployment. The first step in calculating benefits is to adjust the individual's earnings using the average wage index (AWI) in order to convert the value of past earnings into today's dollars. The AWI is also used to adjust the earnings levels that determine the portion of their average monthly earnings that people are allowed to keep as their benefit. .Their bill would address the administrative funding challenges that the Social Security Administration has been facing for several years. Since 2010, the Social Security Administration's budget has declined by 9 percent, resulting in a loss of 10,000 employees and the closure of more than 10 percent of all field offices nationwide. At the same time, the number of Social Security beneficiaries has increased dramatically by 15 percent since 2010. .Sources: "What Medicaid Cuts Will Mean For Seniors," Gleckman, Kaiser Health News, May 18, 2011. .First, on the payroll tax, he delayed payroll tax collections for those making under 4,000. President Trump instructed the U.S. Treasury to halt collection of payroll taxes from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 for workers who earn under less than ,000 every two weeks (that's people earning under about 4,000 a year). The President has the authority to do this because it is not actually a tax cut, but rather a tax deferral, which will, as we said, have to be repaid by workers at a later date. ."The ability to withstand major downturns in the economy is particularly important in retirement, yet extraordinarily difficult for today's retirees and those nearing retirement," says Johnson. "There are a number of factors that are reducing available retirement income from traditional sources," Johnson says.