To get your health services through Original Medicare. If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, deductibles and co-pays may apply to these preventive services. Check with your plan to see what costs and rules apply. .Immigration reform that provides work authorization, and a pending Social Security Totalization Agreement with Mexico, could mean that a very substantial amount of earnings in the ESF file would be reinstated in the future. Because earnings are used to determine both the number of quarters of coverage worked for insured status, and is used to calculate the initial benefit, this poses a substantial liability to the Social Security Trust Fund worsening its solvency. .It's hard to say until you crunch the numbers. You may qualify for Social Security benefits with as little as ten years of work through your self-employment. But even if you do, you will be subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) which reduces Social Security benefits when you receive a pension based on non-covered government employment. .TSCL offers its supporters an unconditional refund of their most recent donation if they are dissatisfied with our position or performance. .The Senior Citizens League's members nation-wide agree that the elimination of the medical expense deduction would be a significant loss for those living on fixed incomes. I encourage lawmakers to keep this critical tax deduction in place and to take a stand for older and disabled Americans as tax reform discussions continue in the days and weeks ahead. .TSCL enthusiastically supports S. 2011, H.R. 2575, H.R. 991, and H.R. 1205, and we were pleased to see support grow for each one this week. For more information about these and other bills endorsed by TSCL, visit the Bill Tracking section of our website. .Reduce the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that beneficiaries receive once they become eligible for benefits. .In 1977, Social Security was close to bankruptcy. Legislation enacted in 1977 changed the way benefits were calculated, beginning with retirees who were born in 1917 and who first became eligible for benefits in 197The changes were major, and the transition between the old and new method of calculating benefits not only took place over a very short period of time, it did not work as anticipated. .Improving the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). According to TSCL's research, Social Security benefits have lost over 30 percent of their buying power since 2000 due in large part to inadequate COLAs and rising health care costs. The bipartisan Fair COLA for Seniors Act (H.R. 1553) would improve the annual COLA by adopting the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), which more adequately measures the inflation seniors experience.