In the days and weeks ahead, TSCL encourages its members and supporters to contact their elected officials to request their support for a clean and immediate increase in the debt ceiling. For frequent updates on this important issue, follow TSCL on Facebook or Twitter. .Also putting pressure on the program, TSCL anticipates that more people will file claims for benefits. While employment was at record levels just a few months ago, many older adults postponed filing for benefits to allow their Social Security payouts and retirement accounts to grow. Now, faced with paid sick leave and unemployment benefits ending, older workers are unlikely to be able to afford to wait to file for benefits if they have lost their jobs. In addition, workers lucky enough to have 401(k)s and IRAs have experienced significant losses in the value of those retirement accounts and will be depending on Social Security all the more. Big changes in equity prices reduce the distributions from those accounts. .Still, COLA cuts remain a key proposal of major debt reduction plans. In his budget last year, President Obama proposed changing the way COLAs are calculated by using a more slowly-growing measure of inflation, known as the "chained" CPI. "If our nation is going to correct income inequality, it should start with payroll taxes," Cates says. "Under current law, millionaires pay no Social Security taxes at all on earnings over 7,000, while average workers pay Social Security taxes on every dime they earn," Cates points out. "Cutting the benefits of financially vulnerable seniors and others can't be justified when millionaires are getting a multibillion dollar tax break," Cates asserts. "TSCL urges President Obama NOT to use Social Security COLAs to cut the debt," he adds. .Congressmember Karen Bass is serving her sixth term in Congress. She represents Culver City and parts of Los Angeles. .Your mail order pharmacy may require that your doctor fax the prescription and you will also mail in the original as well as other required forms, your check, or credit or debit card information. Be sure to find out when medications requiring refrigeration are shipped so you can be expecting them. In general, you can order refills after 60 days or so. .Unlike most of the top 10 causes of death, such as heart disease and cancer, which are covered in large part by Medicare, Alzheimer's care comes with extraordinary costs that are not covered. Medicare covers medically necessary inpatient hospital care, doctor's fees, outpatient services such as blood tests, and Part D covers many prescription drugs. However, a dementia diagnosis most often requires custodial care, like help bathing, eating, dressing, and supervision. Medicare does not cover custodial care. .Economic recession isn't entirely to blame for low inflation. For more than three decades the federal government has made a substantial number of changes to the methodology it uses to calculate the consumer price index, which is used to determine the COLA. "Virtually all the changes have tended to reduce the measured rate of inflation," Cates says. "Not surprisingly, many COLA recipients sometimes tell us they suspect the government is manipulating the inflation measure to cut spending on their benefits," he adds. .Johnson says that the federal government is looking at the wrong market basket to determine the annual change in prices in the goods and services used by retired and disabled Americans. According to Johnson, had the government used a more appropriate inflation index that measures costs experienced by people age 62 and older, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), retirees would get a COLA of 2.1 percent instead of 0.3 percent in 201"But instead, the COLA is based on the increased price of goods normally purchased by younger working adults," she notes. .The amount of the credit will increase for many taxpayers.