Throughout his testimony, Elmendorf stressed the fact that programs like Social Security and Medicare will continue to grow despite the slow pace of the economic recovery. Over the next ten years, he noted that the number of Americans over the age of sixty-five will increase by one-third. .A major study by two economists at the Social Security Administration found that the growth is mainly due to Baby Boomers moving into disability-prone ages, growth in the number of women covered for disability benefits, and ordinary population growth. But the researchers were unable to account for 10 percent of the growth that they attributed to what they dubbed the disability "incidence rate" — meaning the growth not attributable to something else. Some members of Congress and the public are beginning to question whether overly vague eligibility criteria, and too many applicants receiving benefits that they aren't entitled to, might be to blame. .Medicare recently announced that a big change is coming to Medicare cards. To prevent identity theft and to help protect the program from fraud, Medicare will be dropping Social Security numbers from Medicare cards and issuing new cards starting next year. .Instead, I am a strong supporter of the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act of 201This legislation would change the way the Social Security Administration calculates the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) by switching from a CPI based on urban wage earners to a formula that would better reflect the spending of seniors. Unlike younger Americans, seniors spend a disproportionate amount of their income on medical expenses and it is crucial that we raise the Cost of Living Adjustment to keep up with the rising cost of medical expenses. .In response to heightened concerns over antibiotic resistance, two dozen of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies have formally launched a billion for-profit venture fund to replenish the global medicine chest with novel treatments. .If signed into law, H.R. 1811 would base Social Security cost-of-living adjustments on the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI-E) and gradually phase out the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. .Social Security Totalization Agreements are designed so that workers and their employers would not be subject to double taxation, owing payroll taxes to both the country in which they work, and their home nation. In addition, totalization agreements allow workers to earn generic work credits good for receiving retirement benefits in either country. These credits from the United States and other countries can be totaled together to receive benefits. The U.S. currently has 24 totalization agreements with other nations, most having economies similar to our own. .More headaches are on the way this tax season. For the second year in a row, the Making Work Pay Tax Credit didn't work as planned for an estimated 13.4 million taxpayers, according to the Treasury Department's Inspector General. Seniors are high on the "Most Negatively Affected List," and may wind up owing taxes and even a penalty. .TSCL feels the closing of the World War II Memorial is a prime example of backwards Administration priorities. Access to that memorial should never be barred in the first place. Its construction was funded heavily by donations from the public rather than solely by tax revenues, and many donations came from Notch Babies who formed the bulk of the fighting forces during World War II. In fact, TSCL members and supporters alone donated over ,749 for the World War II Memorial Foundation.