Trump's administration "has decided to pursue a radical and dangerous policy to set prices based on rates paid in countries that he has labeled as socialist, which will harm patients today and into the future," Stephen Ubl, the head of PhRMA, said in a statement. .This week, lawmakers in the House and Senate adjourned for a week-long holiday recess. They are expected to return to Washington on Tuesday, June 5th. In the meantime, many Members of Congress will be attending local events or hosting town hall meetings in their home states and districts. .The Notch Could Happen Again .And third, one new cosponsor – Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) – signed on to the Social Security 2100 Act (S. 2671), bringing the cosponsor total to two. If adopted, S. 2671 would comprehensively strengthen and reform the Social Security program by basing COLAs on the CPI-E, increasing monthly benefits by 2%, creating a new Special Minimum Benefit equal to 125% of the poverty line, providing a tax cut to Social Security beneficiaries, applying the payroll tax to annual income over 0,000, and gradually increasing the payroll tax rate by 0.25%. .Fraud, waste and abuse are costing taxpayers and seniors an estimated billion a year, but Medicare fails to recover overpayments about 80 percent of the time. The Inspector General recently said that of the 6,287,546 in overpayments identified through the 30-month period ending March 31, 2009, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reported collecting only ,168,50But it gets even worse. The OIG said that it could not verify that the ,168,502 had been collected as reported because CMS did not have an adequate system for documenting overpayment collections. .I believe it is imperative that we fully support programs that protect the nation's most vulnerable, and ensure that they can easily access them in their time of need. The SNAP Simplification for the Elderly Act will make great strides in that direction. .TSCL will be working for legislation to ensure both hospitals and Medicare Part A weather COVID-19 and its aftermath to keep both strong and working for all who depend on Medicare! .Sources: "Divided Deficit Panel OKs Proposal," John Maggs, Politico, December 3, 20"The Moment of Truth" The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, December 2010. .The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) has concerns about a number of elements outlined in the revised Simpson-Bowles plan – namely the adoption of the "chained" CPI, since seniors are already being short changed by the COLAs they receive. The plan released this week is not likely to be adopted in its entirety, but it will serve as an important comparative tool in the coming weeks as leaders in Washington continue to search for sequester alternatives. The automatic cuts are scheduled to hit on Friday, March 1st, but leaders have said they believe the deadline is flexible and their best chance at redesigning it might come at the end of the month, when the continuing resolution to fund the government expires. Until then, TSCL will continue to monitor the negotiations, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website.