I am writing for assistance in applying for the Notch Settlement on behalf of my widowed mother who has been a supporter of this cause for several years. She currently draws my deceased father's Social Security since it is greater than what she would receive under her own amounts paid in. My father was born on Sept. 16, 1926, which would qualify her to receive the settlement of ,000. She also has an acquaintance who was in this same situation and she was able to obtain the ,000 in full under her husband's benefits and he was also born in 192We have made several attempts to contact Social Security and they simply will not respond to her request. Is there any assistance you may lend to resolve this issue? .Recent healthcare cost data have the experts perplexed. According to a new analysis from actuaries of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, national healthcare spending in 2011 grew at just 3.9 percent. This is the third consecutive year it's grown so slowly, making it the slowest pace in the more than 50 years such data have been tracked. Federal officials don't know for sure if it's a temporary fluke due to prolonged recessionary effects, or part of a long-term trend. .Unlike other government penalties, such as a tax penalty, the extra 0 per month is permanent, and is payable for the rest of the time he has Medicare. To avoid further penalties, we strongly urge your daughter to get her father-in-law enrolled in Medicare Part B as quickly as possible. If her father-in-law only receives Social Security and has limited savings, he may qualify for a Medicare Savings Program that would pay the cost of the Part B premium. .TSCL is highly concerned that the projected decline in Social Security revenues, along with the expected .5 trillion drop in general revenues caused by recent tax cuts, will create growing pressures to cut federal spending on benefits. The most frequently discussed changes include raising the eligibility age for benefits, imposing means testing, and slowing the growth of the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) by tying the annual boost to the more slowly-growing chained consumer price index. .Cost-of-living increases are based on the nation's general rate of inflation, and the prices for the goods and services used to calculate inflation have barely budged. .However, taking this action would cause at least two difficulties for the President. Signing legislation to reduce Medicare spending on the drugs would generate official budget savings that Congress could have applied to other health-care legislation -- bills to expand insurance coverage or reduce other drug spending, for example. Executive action taken before a bill's passage would remove a key bargaining chip, and likely reduce the scope of a health-care bill expected in the coming months. .Use call block technology. If you have a smart phone, you can block calls from unknown numbers. Some land line phones also have similar technology. .Compounding the problem, in 2004 the U.S. and Mexico signed a totalization agreement allowing people who split their careers between two countries to receive a harmonized retirement benefit from the two governments. Since 1978, the U.S. has entered into similar agreements with 21 countries, and, as with previous agreements, the U.S.- Mexico totalization agreement applies only to legal U.S. residents. .Rather than get into all the details of how this works, we will simplify it this way. The Democrats now have the majority in the Senate because Vice President Harris can break tie votes, giving a majority vote of 51 to the Democrats.