First, in the spring, Members of Congress passed legislation to repeal and replace the sustainable growth rate (SGR) – a flawed formula that set payment rates for doctors who treated Medicare patients. Because of the quirks in the law, doctors were faced with double-digit cuts year after year. Some stopped seeing new Medicare patients, and some even stopped participating in Medicare altogether. TSCL advocated for the SGR's repeal for more than a decade, and we were ecstatic to see it replaced once and for all last April. The law took effect immediately and, in the coming years, it will bring increased stability to the Medicare program for both patients and their doctors. .In addition, the hold harmless provision does not apply to the premiums of Medigap supplements, Medicare Advantage, or Part D plans. Any increase in those premiums would lower the amount of Social Security benefits left to deal with other rising costs. .Alexandria, VA (October 24, 2011) In January, for the first time in two years, Social Security recipients will get a sorely-needed cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Benefits will rise 3.6% in 2012, following a surge in inflation that occurred even while seniors had no annual increase to help meet rapidly rising prices. Stagnant COLAs may soon be a fact of life for beneficiaries - a change that would also lower lifetime Social Security benefits, especially for Baby Boomers, warns The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), one of the nation's largest nonpartisan seniors groups. .For each visitor to our website, The Senior Citizens League collects only the domain name and aggregate information on what pages are visited. This information is used to help improve the content and ease of use of our website. .In view of what happened and the substantial differential in pure dollar terms, TSCL believes "The Notch Fairness Act" is a fair, and even modest settlement for those who were affected by the Notch. "The Notch Fairness Act" would provide those born from 1917 through 1926 the option of choosing ,000 payable over a five year period or an improved monthly benefit. .Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its warning for cruise travel for the first time since several outbreaks on ships brought the industry to a halt last year. .Proxy voting allows a member of the House to give to another member the right to cast a vote on his or her behalf. The member authorizing the proxy will stipulate how the vote should be cast and the member casting the proxy vote is required to abide by the wishes of the member granting the proxy. .Part B premiums are only part of what Medicare recipients pay. People also have premiums for a Medigap supplement and Part D plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan and those premiums are rising as well. Hold harmless protection does not apply to premium increases in these private plans, and any increase would leave retirees .Drug Companies start effort on New Drug Treatments