As we begin a new year, we hope you had the best holiday season possible under the conditions we all continue to face because of the coronavirus pandemic. We know the past ten months have been extremely hard for many Americans, especially for senior citizens and their families. .Two Bills Gain New Cosponsors .TSCL believes that the extreme cost increases are putting Medicare beneficiaries and funding for Part D at risk. "Medicare must be given the authority to negotiate pharmaceutical prices with manufacturers for covered Part D drugs," says Cates. How are rising healthcare costs affecting you? TSCL wants to hear from you, visit . .We urge you to be cautious. You should not be charged just for being put on a list. If you receive a contact like this you should call your doctor's office or your local health department to try and verify that such a list exists. .In the coming weeks, TSCL will continue to monitor the "myRA" and immigration reform issues that President Obama spoke about on Tuesday evening. We will provide updates here in the Legislative News section of our website as more details become available. .Drug Discount Cards .Bloomberg News reports that the legislation would establish a task force on older investors at the Securities and Exchange Commission. This Senior Investor Taskforce would be required to identify challenges such as the financial exploitation and cognitive decline of investors older than 65, and to consider whether rules issued by the SEC or securities self-regulatory organizations should be changed to benefit them. .Wages in the ESF since the end of 1999 grew by 3.20 billion to 5 billion, nearly doubling from 1.8 billion. In other words, it took 63 years to accumulate 1.8 billion in wages in the ESF. In the five most recent years, the amount of wages rose by 93%. This growth is illustrated in the charts in Tables 1, 2 and 3, which follow. .Finally, one new cosponsor – Senator Richard Blumenthal (CT) – signed on to the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act (S. 99), bringing the cosponsor total up to eight. If adopted, this bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prescription drug prices on behalf of Medicare Part D beneficiaries.