This year's study found a 3 percentage point gain in the buying power of Social Security benefits from January 2019 to January 2020. That should indicate that most retirees may have seen at least some prices go down on certain items during that period. But this is deflation — which is a strong signal that there may be no COLA next year. This year's 1.6 percent COLA was already low to begin with. A recent deep plunge in oil prices have all but wiped out the prospect of a COLA. .This week, Congressman John Larson (CT-1) – Chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee – introduced the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 860) along with the support of more than two hundred original House cosponsors. Senator Richard Blumenthal (CT) also introduced the companion bill – S. 269 – in the Senate this week along with Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD). .This week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D- Calif.) introduced a more than trillion coronavirus aid package, a sweeping effort with trillion in aid for states and cities. It also includes billion for testing people for the novel coronavirus, direct payments of up to ,000 per U.S. household, billion in emergency grants for small business and billion for the U.S. Postal Service, among other things. .This week, one House Subcommittee approved a draft Medicare physician payment reform bill. In addition, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) announced its support for legislation introduced by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46), and four key bills gained new cosponsors. .To date, no government agency has released any complete estimate of the potential cost of illegal earnings to the Social Security Trust Fund. The best indication of the potential cost is contained in the Social Security Administration's "earnings suspense file" (ESF). .Traveling through the beautiful farmlands of early primary states, you can find the self-proclaimed champions of socialized medicine amid the flashes of cameras on the campaign trail. If you keep driving through, you'll see the harsh reality beyond presidential candidate photo-ops. You'll see the more than 100 rural hospitals that have closed in the United States since 2010, including two in my district in the last year alone. .Medicare has recently issued a proposed rule that would require, with some exceptions, patients who stay in the hospital two days or less to be classified as observation patients, and those who stay longer to be admitted as an inpatient. But the rule does not require hospitals to tell patients when they are in observation status or allow them to appeal the decision before they leave. Medicare recommends patients who are in the hospital for "more than a few hours" to learn their status. TSCL believes that the rules unfairly burden Medicare patients and their families, and believes that patients have a right to know their observation status and to be given an opportunity to appeal the determination. To learn more, see the publication "Are You a Hospital Inpatient Or Outpatient, If You Have Medicare — Ask!" (CMS No. 11435). .TSCL supports legislation that would provide a more fair and accurate COLA by basing it on a senior index like the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). If seniors received a COLA based on the CPI-E, TSCL estimates that seniors with average benefits of ,200 per month in 2014 would receive ,753 more over a 30-year retirement. By their final year, their benefit would be ,652 per year more than if the CPI-W were used. .The Social Security Trustees further estimate that .9 billion in revenues in 2020 would come from the taxation of Social Security benefits. "Yet those revenues are also likely to be lower, impacted by both large numbers of older Americans who lost income from jobs, as well as from lower distributions from retirement accounts that have lost value from last year," Johnson notes. Under the CARES Act, retirees are allowed to completely waive required minimum distributions for 2020 from retirement accounts.