The extent of probable illegal work related to such reinstatements has also been growing. "With more recent work years and earnings, the percentage of reinstatements to foreign-born persons with work activity prior to SSN issuance is significantly higher—an average of about 32% of such reinstatement occurring between 1986-200Further, in some years, these reinstatements for potentially unauthorized work have been in excess of 50% of all reinstatements to foreign-born recipients," the GAO said.(17) .On Tuesday, the Senate HELP Committee held a bipartisan hearing to discuss the rising costs of prescription drugs. Members of the committee heard from four expert witnesses, including Doctor Paul Howard – Director of Health Policy at the Manhattan Institute – and Doctor Gerard Anderson – Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. .Medicare Reform – Protect beneficiaries from changes that would impose greater out-of-pocket costs to beneficiaries. .The Senior Citizens League was disappointed that the President did not comment on Social Security or Medicare during his State of the Union address, but we were pleased that he spoke about the need to reduce prescription drug prices. The President said he was proud to have helped improve "access to breakthrough cures and affordable generic drugs" by speeding up the FDA approvals process last year. That move could increase competition and bring down prices by encouraging generics to enter the market more quickly. .My Husband Had a stroke at 6Would He Qualify For Social Security Disability? .In the meantime, TSCL will be keeping a close eye on the budget negotiations since they will impact the funding of the Social Security and Medicare programs. We will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website, and on our Twitter page. .As far as Medicare goes, the Part B funds will last for 30 years but the Part A funds, which pays inpatient hospital costs, will become insolvent in only 6 years. Both of those projections assume that nothing will be done before then to fix the programs, and TSCL has been working to get Congress to come up with a plan to stop those cuts from taking place. .Not surprisingly, TSCL surveys and email indicated that although Medicare costs continued to grow from 2010 to 2011, many seniors were forced to cut back and forego healthcare services. This undoubtedly was a major reason why government spending on Medicare remained relatively flat. The following table illustrates responses to a question from the TSCL 2011 Healthcare Cost Survey conducted in October 2011: .A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass the appropriations bills that allow agencies to operate. As a result, federal workers and government contractors temporarily don't get paid until after the shutdown has ended. But hitting the debt limit would have far more reaching effects. The debt limit is the legal limit on the total amount of debt the federal government may take on. That limit is especially important to older Americans because the federal government has used trillions in excess payroll tax revenues from the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds in the past, and now must borrow in order to pay Social Security and Medicare benefits in full and on time.