Action on Capitol Hill was slow this week as Members of Congress remained in their home states and districts to prepare for the November 6th election. They are not expected to return to Capitol Hill until after the Veterans Day holiday, on Tuesday, November 13th. TSCL would like to remind you that many Members of Congress will attend local events or hold town hall meetings in the upcoming weeks, giving voters an excellent opportunity to voice their concerns. We encourage you to approach your Senators and Representatives to request their support for fair cost-of-living adjustments and other key issues. .Compare your drug and health plan options NOW during the Medicare Open Enrollment period before it ends on December 7th. Does your current drug plan even cover your expensive new prescription? If not, you need to check your other options. Chances are another plan will. Use the Drug and Health Plan Finder at www.Medicare.gov. Make sure you carefully enter every prescription drug you take in order to get a custom comparison of your best drug plan choices. Costs can vary by hundreds, even thousands, of dollars, and you may be very surprised by the savings from switching to a better plan. .The Social Security Administration (SSA) website provides free calculators which are somewhat useful to estimate retirement benefits, but they don't provide guidance on when to claim your benefit. These calculators require you to input information, and you will receive rough estimates. A much more useful estimate with less work can be obtained when you set up your "my Social Security" account. You can receive benefit estimates based on your own earnings records that the SSA actually has on file for you. Still, these estimates lack the most recent earnings information, and don't give you a monthly estimate if you were to retire mid - year. .TREA Senior Citizens League Backs New Approach to Correcting the Notch .Medicare expects to start mailing cards in May of 2018, but be patient. The cards are going out on a "rolling basis" to different states over the next 9 months (see the chart at the end of this article.) To learn when new Medicare cards start mailing to your area, sign up for e-alerts from Medicare by visiting Medicare.gov/NewCard. .TSCL thanks those who donated, and remembers those who fought in World War II. Read one such remembrance, "My Friend Paris" contributed by TSCL member, John Seavers. .Which dentists and dental specialists in your area are in the plan's network? Does the dental plan require you to use a network of dentists, or do you have the freedom to choose any provider who accepts your insurance? Are you willing to switch dentists in order for your care to be covered? It's especially important to learn what periodontists and other specialists in your area are in the dental plan's network. If you need to get a tooth pulled and an implant, but no periodontist accepts your dental coverage, you may wind up needing to spend ,000 or more out-of-pocket for an implant. .I recently received an email with a link to a "Tax Loophole for Illegals" video claiming that the IRS had paid over billion in Child Tax refunds to illegal immigrants. Is this an Internet rumor? How can our government give away billions to illegals, when they don't pay any taxes? .Spending Bill Dominates "Lame Duck" Session