Experts estimate that fraud, waste, and abuse within Medicare costs more than billion each year. What efforts do you support to ramp up prevention? .With it looking increasingly likely that Social Security beneficiaries will receive the highest COLA in seven years —about 3.3% in 2019 — proponents of "chaining" the COLA are likely to try to argue that the COLA under current law overpays recipients. Proponents of using the chained consumer price index to calculate the COLA claim that the chained consumer price index (CPI) is more "accurate" in calculating the COLA because it takes into account how people substitute other items when prices change. .Low-income seniors would receive assistance from Medicaid, and those with the greatest health expenses would receive additional help from the government. According to the plan's sponsors, The Congressional Health Care for Seniors Act would reduce the deficit by trillion over ten years, and it would save the average enrollee ,500 in out-of-pocket expenses each year. However, a recent poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that a majority of Americans – seventy percent – would prefer to keep Medicare as is, "with the government guaranteeing seniors health insurance and making sure that everyone gets the same defined set of benefits." .However, MA insurers have already begun taking steps to reduce their costs in order to account for the cuts from CMS. As was noted in last week's legislative update, UnitedHealth – one of the largest MA plan providers – has dropped thousands of doctors from its networks, leaving many seniors doctor-less. It expects its physician network to be 85 percent of its pre-Obamacare size by the end of this year. TSCL is concerned that additional cuts to MA in 2015 will harm beneficiaries in other ways, by driving up premiums and reducing benefits. .TSCL Gears Up For Busy New Year .We at TSCL are not doctors or scientists. But with all the different voices being heard about what the right thing is to do or not to do, what we do urge you to be is very cautious. It makes sense to us to listen to the trained professionals in medical and scientific fields as we deal with our current health care situation. .Give family recipe or ethnic specialty cooking lessons. As a child I learned how to make Pennsylvania German egg noodles from scratch from my grandmother. These were a highly treasured holiday gifts. My arms still ache remembering how long I had to roll the dough to get those noodles thin enough for my grandmother! Give out an invitation to special grandchildren or friends for lessons in making favorite traditional foods from scratch. .Money for Life: Turn Your IRA and 401(k) Into a Lifetime Retirement Paycheck, Steve Vernon, September 2012. .We will update you whenever we have additional information.