This week, The Senior Citizens League's (TSCL) legislative team met with several Members of Congress and their top staff to discuss legislation that would protect and defend the Social Security benefits of seniors. In addition, members of TSCL's legislative team were in attendance at the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's first public hearing. TSCL also saw support grow for a key piece of legislation. .A second of the measures the President signed on Saturday aims to provide 0 in weekly unemployment aid for millions of Americans. Trump said 25 percent of this money would be paid by states, many of which are already dealing with major budget shortfalls. The federal contribution would be redirected from disaster relief money at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Those funds are not likely to last more than two months, and the President did not say when the benefits would kick in. .Here are some ways to trim the cost of visits to the vet: .TSCL has received a growing volume of email from seniors who say their new Part D or Medicare Advantage plan isn't all it's cracked up to be. Many of you complain of higher-than-expected costs, and quite a few asked how you could drop your plan. Selecting the right Medicare supplement or Medicare Advantage plan is highly complicated. The system has stymied almost everyone who works with it, Medicare advocates, pharmacists, insurers, and — especially — government employees. How can the average senior be expected to figure it out? .Recent vaccines targeting more limited populations, such as a meningitis B vaccine for college students and the shingles vaccine for older adults, have a retail cost of 0 to 0 for a full course. .How much are you over-paying for your prescription drugs? The only way to find out is to do a drug plan comparison based on all the drugs you take. This is the time of year you can make changes during the Medicare Open Enrollment period, which runs through the month of November and ends December 7th. Give the Medicare Drug Plan Finder a try. You can get free one-on-one counseling by contacting your local Area on Aging, State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) or senior centers and ask for help comparing Medicare drug plans. .In December — just before the 115th Congress came to a close — The Senior Citizens League's (TSCL's) Board of Trustees member and Legislative Liaison Joe Kluck traveled to Capitol Hill to thank lawmakers who sponsored key legislation that would strengthen and protect the Social Security program for current and future beneficiaries. .If you feel that this site is not following its stated privacy policy, you may contact us by writing to The Senior Citizens League, 1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 600, Alexandria, VA 22314, through e-mail at comments@ or call us at800-333-TSCL (8725). All received complaints will be investigated and responded to promptly. .To get information about Medicare supplement premiums, first select the plan offering the coverage you are interested in, "A" through "N". You can find a listing of these plans on page 82 of the 2017 Medicare & You handbook but not all states will have all plans. Once you have chosen the plan then you can simply compare premiums between insurers. The coverage for each type of plan is just the same, but premiums between various insurers can vary tremendously.