Our surveys are the key means to educate the public on issues, and for Members of Congress, to gauge how people think. Survey results can turn up the heat during an election year. This month, TSCL launches our annual 2020 Senior Survey, and we urge you to participate. This is our most important survey of the year, and your responses count. .This week, The Senior Citizens League was pleased to see support grow for two key bills that would improve the Social Security and Medicare programs if adopted. .On Tuesday evening, President Obama gave his fifth State of the Union Address before both chambers of Congress. To The Senior Citizens League's (TSCL's) surprise, the sixty-five minute speech included no mention of Social Security or Medicare, but the President did speak briefly about immigration reform and a new retirement savings plan called "myRA." .Direct federally funded community health centers to pass discounts they now get for insulin and EpiPens directly to low-income patients. .But as the StatNews article said, "… some people might remember the headlines of Moderna's and Pfizer's product offering greater than 90% effectiveness against Covid-19 and question J&J's announcement of 66% effectiveness. .We end the update this week with some hopeful news regarding Alzheimer's disease. According to a report from National Public Radio, there is evidence that vaccines that protect against the flu and pneumonia may actually protect people from Alzheimer's, too. The evidence comes from two studies presented last Monday at this year's Alzheimer's Association International Conference, which is being held as a virtual event. .Social Security recipients, on the other hand, wouldn't have received anything during that period because the price inflation, as measured by the government's Consumer Price Index for Workers (CPI-W), fell and was not high enough for a COLA to be payable at all until January of this year. The projected Congressional COLA for 2013 is 1.1% and that would equal an extra ,900 if it takes effect, resulting in an annual salary of 5,900. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently projected that seniors would receive a 1.3% COLA in 201If the CBO is correct, the COLA would only raise average annual Social Security benefits about 9, from ,200 in 2012 to ,389 in 201There's a widespread misconception that Members of Congress don't pay into Social Security. That's not true. They do — but not on all of their salary. .TSCL's legislative team is monitoring the tax reform negotiations closely, and we have serious concerns about several provisions that would impact older Americans, including the following five… .It closed the Medicare outpatient therapy cap. Before the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act, Medicare coverage for various forms of outpatient therapy – including physical therapy and speech therapy – was arbitrarily capped at ,500 per year. For years, lawmakers sought to repeal this cap since it limited the care older Americans could receive under Medicare. TSCL advocated tirelessly for Congressman Erik Paulsen's (MN-3) bipartisan Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act (H.R. 807), and we were thrilled that a similar provision was included in this year's bipartisan budget agreement, repealing the therapy cap once and for all.