The Senior Citizens League enthusiastically supports S. 2553, S. 2387, and S. 974, and we will continue to advocate for their passage on Capitol Hill in the months ahead. For more information about these and other bills that have been backed by The Senior Citizens League, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. For frequent progress updates, follow TSCL on Twitter. .While most people have rebounded, too many mature workers are still struggling to find work, much less a good-paying job. According to a survey by AARP, half of mature workers who experienced unemployment between 2010-2014 were still looking for work five years later. .Earnings may cause your Social Security benefits to be subject to taxation. A portion of your Social Security benefits may be taxable if your income is over certain thresholds —,000 and up (individuals) or ,000 and up (couples filing jointly). .TSCL is disappointed in the repeated attempts of lawmakers to reduce funding for the healthcare of their sickest and poorest constituents in 201TSCL urges all of you to get ready to vote this election year. Start now by checking that your voter registration is up to date, particularly if you have moved recently. .The last thing we need to happen to our healthcare system is to limit access to quality care. Already, 1-in-3 physicians are limiting the number of Medicare patients they see, and 1-in-8 physicians are refusing Medicare patients all together. Furthermore, the Affordable Care Act created the Independent Payment Advisory Board to control Medicare cost. This would place 15 bureaucrats, appointed by the president, in a position to control the future of Medicare and is another example of the Federal Government forcing themselves into your health care decisions. .Most of the negotiators seem relieved to have reached a compromise, but it's clear that neither party is thrilled with the concessions they had to make. In a telling statement, one of the twenty conferees, Rep. Henry Waxman (CA-30), said of the deal: "It's not so bad that I would vote against it." Another conferee, Rep. Kevin Brady (TX-8) stated however, "At the end of the day, we have prevented a disruption to our economy, avoided a tax increase on working families. and ensured our local doctors will not be punished merely for treating seniors in Medicare." .The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act (S. 64), also introduced by Senators Grassley and Klobuchar, would prohibit anti-competitive pay-for-delay deals that keep much cheaper generic and biosimilar medicines off the market. .The calculation of the COLA is based on the percentage of difference in the average third quarter change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Clerical Workers and Wage Earners (CPI-W) from one year to the next. In late August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina knocked out petroleum production, causing gasoline and other consumer prices to surge in September. The CPI-W shot up an astonishing 1.5 percent between August and September of that year. But since Katrina, the CPI-W has increased .042 percent on average from August to September. "Even if costs were to rise as much as they did after Katrina, the COLA for 2018 would still be about 2 percent," Johnson says. .Unlike the way Medicare negotiates costs for all other medical services and medical equipment, the program doesn't have the authority to negotiate drug prices. That leaves older U.S. consumers paying higher prices than people who get their medications through the VA Administration or state Medicaid programs. And because Medicare isn't negotiating on our behalf, there's no consistency in drug pricing between Part D drug plans either. Prices vary enormously, and new research for TSCL indicates millions of drug plan enrollees are getting gouged when they don't compare and switch to better plans.