This week, TSCL endorsed two new bills from Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX-35) – the Transparent Drug Pricing Act (H.R. 4116) and the Competitive DRUGS Act (H.R. 4117). If signed into law, the bills would promote transparency in the prescription drug industry and prevent anti-competitive pay-for-delay deals, in which brand-name drug companies pay generic drug makers millions of dollars to delay the introduction of their generic medicines to the market. .Despite the fact that leaders are holding steadfast on their positions, a small bipartisan group in the House proposed a plan on Thursday that would fund the government for six months and repeal the health care law's controversial tax on medical devices. The leaders of the bipartisan group – Reps. Ron Kind (WI-3) and Charlie Dent (PA-15) – believe their proposal represents a fair compromise that both sides can support. .Incredibly, to count as poor under the official poverty measure, your income must fall below a threshold, which is based on subsistence level food costs in 195When adopted in 1963, the poverty threshold was defined as three times the "subsistence food budget" for a family of a given size. Unlike other government measures, like the consumer price index, which undergoes continual changes to methodology, the official poverty measure has never changed, other than annual adjustments for inflation. .As we have written recently, Grassley's main problem in getting his bill passed in the Senate is opposition from his fellow Republicans. Grassley said he needs at least 25 Republican co-sponsors to get his bill (S. 2543) to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Ten Republicans other than Grassley have so far made public shows of support for the legislation. .More generous medical expense deductions for 2017 and 2018: The final tax bill retains the deduction for medical expenses and delays a previous change that would have limited the medical expense deduction for people age 65 and older in 2017 and thereafter. Under previous tax law, all taxpayers could deduct out-of-pocket medical expenses that exceed 10% of adjusted gross income, or only 7.5% for taxpayers age 65 or older. The amount of medical expenses that this group of taxpayers would be allowed to deduct was originally scheduled to rise to 10% in 201The new tax bill delayed that change, retaining the 7.5% threshold for medical expenses for taxpayers age 65 and over in 2017 and 201The change to 10% will go into effect beginning in 2019. .Fortunately, there are other bills in Congress that TSCL supports to lower the amount of money seniors must pay for their prescription drugs which we believe have a much better chance of passing and we will keep fighting for them. .The Finance Committee members spent much of Tuesday's hearing debating the primary motivators of rising healthcare costs, especially growing premiums in the individual market. Many on the committee seemed convinced that the ACA is to blame, while others said the Trump Administration is responsible. .Last year a premium support plan that passed in the House prompted a firestorm of opposition from seniors and critics concerned that the plan cut federal spending too much — shifting too great a portion of costs -- and would make Medicare unaffordable for beneficiaries. But premium support itself is nothing new, nor would it "end Medicare as we know it." To the contrary, seniors already know it, and like it. Medicare operates two premium support programs — Medicare Part D, and Medicare Advantage. .One can't write about Medicare as I do without learning that Medicare has requirements for everything. Lots of requirements.. Medicare Starts Mailing New Cards In April — Beware Of Scams! Start watching the mail for your new Medicare card. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services will start mailing the cards this month and plans to replace all existing Medicare cards over the next year — by April of 2019.