Support Grows for Notch Fairness Act .Under current law, Social Security benefits are adjusted annually based on changes in the consumer price index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). According to the Social Security Administration, the intent of the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) is to help protect the buying power of benefits from increases in inflation. All beneficiaries receive the same percentage of increase, but the dollar amount varies based on the amount of benefits that one receives. In years in which inflation has gone down, there can be no COLA at all. .Supporters also stressed the fact that the IPAB has strict limitations. The Board cannot restrict Medicare benefits, raise taxes, increase beneficiaries' cost-sharing, modify eligibility criteria, cut payments to hospitals before 2020, or ration care. Instead, the IPAB will report on healthcare costs, access, quality, and utilization each year, and will make innovative cost-saving recommendations as it sees fit. ."Americans face major retirement challenges," Johnson says. The Senior Citizens .This is a much longer legislative update than usual but there is a lot of information about the pricing of prescription drugs that we believe is important for you to know and that you might be interested in. .Millicent Graves of Williamsburg, Virginia recently was shocked to discover an astounding price range in the same generic drug after her doctor prescribed a different form of Clobetasol propionate, commonly used to treat psoriasis. When she filled her previous prescription in December of 2014 for the Clobetasol solution, she paid — the full retail cost. But when filling the first prescription for Clobetasol foam in 2015, Graves discovered the retail cost was 5.8And five weeks later when she refilled her prescription for the foam, the cost had jumped dramatically— to 7, making the total difference in price between the solution and foam 1,691%. "When I looked at the receipt I almost passed out," she says. "Everything is the same as the first bottle! It's price gouging," she says. .Social Security benefits are one of the few sources of retirement benefits to be adjusted for inflation. The intention is to protect the buying power of benefits when prices increase. But retirees frequently notice that over time their Social Security benefits don't buy as much as they used to. This happens when the annual COLA doesn't keep pace with the increases in costs typically experienced by older and disabled beneficiaries. .Finally, locality pay is subject to the approval of the President, and thus subject to politics. In 2019, the average locality pay adjustment was 0.5%. The annual COLA was 2.8%. The calculation has also been challenged by economists and the nonpartisan CBO as not being accurate. What do you think about using locality pay adjustment rates to adjust Social Security? To send a comment or take a poll on this topic visit . .For example, the FDA is aware of people trying to prevent COVID-19 by taking a product called chloroquine phosphate, which is sold to treat parasites in aquarium fish. Products for veterinary use or for "research use only" may have adverse effects, including serious illness and death, when taken by people.