Lawmakers Approve Temporary Spending Bill .Depending on your income, you may qualify for Medicare Extra Help, which can cover most or all of your prescription drug premium and out-of-pocket costs. Your SHIP counselor may also know of special programs in your state. .Things aren't likely to improve next year. The Social Security Chief Actuary recently estimated that the COLA in 2017 would be just 0.4 percent, which would be the lowest COLA ever paid. That would raise benefits just .00 per ,000 in benefits. .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. ."The Congressional Budget Office said in 2019 that the bill would likely hamper some pharmaceutical development due to lower ‘potential global revenues' but predicted that ‘the effects of the new drug introductions from increased federal spending under the bill on biomedical research would be modest and would almost all occur more than 20 years in the future.' On the other hand, it estimated that the bill would save more than 0 billion in drug spending over the next decade." .Some Members of Congress are calling for Congress to strike a deficit reduction deal of their own. Although gridlock may occur and would hardly be surprising, TSCL remains adamantly opposed to a key proposal that would change the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) calculation. The proposal, which would affect not only future retirees but ALL retirees, would switch to a more slowly-growing consumer price index known as the "chained" CPI to calculate the annual COLA. This proposal that would reduce the lifetime Social Security income of seniors by potentially tens of thousands of dollars is one of the few areas of agreement between both Democrat and Republican negotiators. TSCL also strongly opposes proposals that would increase what seniors have to pay for the Medicare benefits. .TREA Senior Citizens League Backs New Approach to Correcting the Notch .Unlike AARP, The Senior Citizens League is a true grassroots organization. Almost one hundred percent of our revenue comes from individual donations, and we do not sell any products to our members. We even refuse outside advertising in our materials. Our sole focus is on education and protection of the Social Security and Medicare benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. .As a result, experts have been saying that even people who have been vaccinated should continue to wear masks and keep their distance from others.