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  • Legislative Update 3

    In his ruling the California judge admonished the federal government for skipping a key step in the rulemaking process and called the government's reasons for doing so "contrived." .(CDC's mission is to protect America from health, safety, and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable, or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.) .In addition, U.S. Customs may be trying to clamp down on prescription drugs being shipped to American consumers from Canadian pharmacies. Although "reimportation" of prescription drugs from abroad continues to be illegal, Customs and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials have only intermittently seized shipments of Canadian drugs in the past. Canadian mail order pharmacies and drug-buying programs run by senior advocates reported earlier this year that the number of seizures has more than quadrupled recently. … Continued

  • This Really Happened A 77 Social Security Cola

    Third, one new cosponsor – Senator Kamala Harris (CA) – signed on to the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act (S. 469) this week, bringing the total up to twenty-two. If adopted, S. 469 would reduce prescription drug prices by allowing individuals, pharmacies, and wholesale distributors to safely import prescription drugs from abroad, where they are often much cheaper. .Back in April, President Trump picked out a single computer model of coronavirus spread to use for guidance about the coronavirus. It turns out that that model initially had rosier estimates than others, and it projected many fewer Covid-19 deaths. .A 2.5 or 3 percent COLA would be sufficient to boost an average monthly retiree benefit of ,500 by .50 to .00 respectively. That would be enough to cover a substantial Part B premium increase in 2021. … Continued

Prevention of Fraud, Waste, and Abuse – Eliminating inefficiencies within Social Security and Medicare. .Legislation to Control Drug Prices Possible This Year? .The CBO said earlier this year that if the Congress did not take action to address the shortfalls, the balances in the two trust funds would be exhausted within the next 10 years: Medicare's Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund (in fiscal year 2024), and Social Security's Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund (in fiscal year 2026) .One of the most important results of this change is that the Senate Majority Leader controls what legislation moves through the Senate. That is crucial in determining what happens in terms of President Biden's agenda in the next two years. .Other critics say that revising the government's purchasing rules will not provide a quick solution to the supply shortages of the current pandemic. "Making Buy American provisions tighter during the current crisis would likely do more harm than good," according to William Reinsch and Jack Caporal of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. .Initial Coverage Period: During this stage of coverage you pay a co-pay or co-insurance of 25% of the cost of covered drugs, and the plan pays 75%, up to a total of ,005 (beneficiary) and ,015 (plan). This includes any applicable deductible. Your plan's full retail drug cost, not your co-pay, is what counts toward entering the coverage gap. Your co-pays or True Out-of-Pocket costs (TrOOP) count toward exiting the coverage gap and qualifying for catastrophic coverage. .TSCL was first established as a special project of TREThe Enlisted Association. On January 1, 1995, TSCL became an independent 501[c][4] citizens' action organization and therefore donations are not tax-deductible. .TSCL is contacting Members of Congress to make them aware of the likelihood that the COLA in 2021 could be one of the lowest ever paid, and to propose an emergency COLA of 2.5%. We drew the 2.5% from the current estimated Social Security baseline budget produced by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In January, the CBO estimated that the 2021 COLA would be 2.5%, thus providing an emergency COLA of that amount is already factored into Social Security Trust Fund calculations. .Single — your annual income is less than ,090 (,507.50 per month) and resources less than ,820 per year.