COLAs have flat - lined at unprecedented lows over the past 7 years, averaging just 1.2 percent a year. That's less than half the 3 percent that COLAs averaged from 2000 to 200"The low growth in Social Security benefits since 2009 has a significant impact on overall retirement income of anyone who has been retired since that year," Johnson says. "For people retired over the past seven years, monthly benefits in 2016 are today 13 percent lower than if inflation had been the more typical 3 percent per year," Johnson explains. "In dollar amounts, that's 0 per month lower for someone with average benefits," she adds. "This is huge and this loss of anticipated retirement income compounds every year causing people to spend through retirement savings far more quickly than planned, " she says. "Over the course of a 25 or 30 year retirement, it reduces anticipated Social Security income by tens of thousands of dollars," Johnson says. "Unfortunately this financial impact is not fully understood by the vast majority of the public and Members of Congress — The Senior Citizens League is working to change that," Johnson notes. .Regarding Social Security, TSCL was pleased to see that the President's proposal did not include the "chained" CPI, as it did last year. Many in Congress were also relieved by its absence. Shortly after the blueprint was released, Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) – founder of the Defending Social Security Caucus – said, "I am especially proud that the President did not renew his proposal to cut Social Security benefits. With … more people living in poverty than ever before, we cannot afford to make life even more difficult for seniors." .(Washington, DC) – Social Security recipients are likely to get an annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) of 6 to a 6.1 percent in 2022, according to The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). The COLA that becomes payable in January of 2022 would be the highest since 198"Our forecast is based on CPI data through August, and there is still one more month of consumer price data to come in before we get the official announcement in October, says Mary Johnson, Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. .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. .Living on a Social Security budget can make gift-giving tough. Here are five thoughtful ideas for do-it-yourself gifts that will make the season merrier for all: .You make an excellent point! The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) uses the most recent data for the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W), the index that is used to calculate the annual Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA). New data is released monthly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. .This week, Senate Budget Chair Kent Conrad (ND) released his Fiscal Commission Budget Plan, which would overhaul the tax code and make major changes to both Social Security and Medicare. In addition, TSCL saw support grow for the Social Security Fairness Act. .Sources: "Prescribers With Questionable Patterns In Medicare Part D," Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, June 201"Medicare Fraud Outrunning Enforcement Efforts," The Center For Public Integrity, July 3, 2013. .In places where state officials claimed that in-person inspections have taken place, the reports found no issues in most cases, even as Covid-19 claimed more than 31,000 deaths in nursing homes. Less than 3 percent of the more than 5,700 inspection surveys the federal government released this month had any infection control deficiencies, according to a report on Thursday by the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a nonprofit patient activist group.