This week, The Senior Citizens League was pleased to see support grow for three bipartisan bills that would improve the Medicare program and reduce prescription drug prices. .How much are you over-paying for your prescription drugs? The only way to find out is to do a drug plan comparison based on all the drugs you take. This is the time of year you can make changes during the Medicare Open Enrollment period, which runs through the month of November and ends December 7th. Give the Medicare Drug Plan Finder a try. You can get free one-on-one counseling by contacting your local Area on Aging, State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) or senior centers and ask for help comparing Medicare drug plans. .After leaving major decisions on Social Security and Medicare cuts to the New Year, Members of Congress are returning to pick up their debate over entitlements and taxes. With the looming insolvency of the Social Security disability program just two short years away, Congress will be forced to take action to re-set program funding at some point soon. When that happens, cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) cuts could be used to shore up the program. .(Washington, DC) – Although there won't be any Social Security cost – of - living adjustment (COLA) next year, many of the nation's biggest drug and health plans are sharply increasing costs, warns The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). "Outrage is growing among older voters who question how COLAs can be zero, when their healthcare costs are taking the biggest jump in seven years," says TSCL Chairman, Ed Cates. .The decision is complicated by significant trade offs that can reduce or even eliminate the money you are hoping to receive. Here are some factors that you need to consider. .Social Security has a .8 trillion surplus, enough to pay full benefits for 18 years, but income inequality has hurt Social Security's finances by leaving most of the wealthiest Americans' earnings above the cutoff point for the payroll tax which funds it. A Wall Street CEO who makes million per year pays no more in payroll tax than someone earning 8,500. If we had the same level of economic equality we enjoyed in 1983, the retirement trust fund would have another .1 trillion in it today. .Now Congressional Democrats, while only having a razor-thin majority in the Senate, are planning a major push to include in measures to lower drug prices in upcoming legislation meant to rebuild the U.S. infrastructure. ."If you're not going in, you're essentially taking the providers' word that they're doing a good job," said Richard Mollot, the executive director of the Long-Term Care Community Coalition. .One of the uncertain Democrats is Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. His state is home to many big-name pharmaceutical companies and he voted against a measure to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices in the Senate Finance Committee in 2019.