Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. .How much would your Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) be worth if it was more accurately based on your spending patterns as a retiree? Social Security legislation under debate in the U.S. House would tie the annual boost for inflation to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E). Had that index been used to calculate the COLA for 2020, your annual boost would be 1.9%, versus the 1.6% that Social Security recipients are actually getting. ." ‘If it comes to getting my family members vaccinated, and all that's available is J&J or Novavax, I'd tell them to take it,' said Robert Hancock, president of the Texas College of Emergency Physicians." .One further reason for the growth is undoubtedly the growth in the primary beneficiary rolls, upon which the benefits of ANP dependents and survivors are based. According to the Inspector General, older non-citizens workers are now at the age and have worked in this country long enough to be potentially eligible to file claims for retirement or disability. The Inspector General has also said that those who worked using invalid, or non-work Social Security numbers issued prior to January 1, 2004, did not need valid work authorization in order to file a claim. Under current law the Social Security Administration uses all earnings, including those for illegal work, to determine entitlement to benefits. .To learn more about your Enrollment Periods check your 2016 Medicare & You handbook, call 1-800—MEDICARE ( 7) or visit www.Medicare.gov. You can get free unbiased one-on-one counseling to help you sign up for Medicare and select the best way to receive coverage through your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). Many of the programs operate through local senior centers or area agencies on aging. .With a majority of seniors today depending on Social Security for at least half of their income over a 20 to 30 years retirement, TSCL opposes proposals that would cut the benefits of current retirees and those nearing retirement. We are continuing to monitor this proposal and waiting to see what legislation may develop. While TSCL believes that changes are needed to ensure that Social Security continues pay scheduled benefits, changes must be kept as small as possible, and phased in over as long a period as possible to allow for future retirees to learn about and adjust their plans. .According to TSCL estimates, benefits are now 13% lower this year than if inflation had remained the more typical 3% for retirees who have been receiving Social Security since 2009 when the low COLAs started. A Social Security benefit of ,000 in 2009 is about 2 per month lower today than if COLA had been the more typical 3%, with a total loss of about ,697 in Social Security benefit growth over the past seven years. Over the same period, however, actual senior costs have continued to climb. Some 72% of retirees who participated in TSCL's 2016 Senior Survey reported that their monthly expenses had gone up by more than in 2015, despite the lack of growth in inflation. .In response to heightened concerns over antibiotic resistance, two dozen of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies have formally launched a billion for-profit venture fund to replenish the global medicine chest with novel treatments. .Three Key Bills Re-Introduced in Congress