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What numbers are those?.Surprise Billing."That simply isn't the case," says TSCL Chairman, Larry Hyland. TSCL conducts an annual survey of typical senior costs. "That data indicates that Social Security benefits have lost more than one-third of their buying power since 2000," Hyland says. "Changes that cut COLAs even further would make it that much harder for seniors and disabled beneficiaries to afford rising Medicare, energy, and other costs," he notes..Sole source drugs. The companies with monopoly pricing power acquire sole - source drugs for which there is only one manufacturer, and therefore face no immediate competition..Recently we asked for your stories and comments on how rising prescription drug costs impact you. The following story illustrates new administrative efforts by Medicare to "educate" beneficiaries about their options for less expensive prescription meds, by sending out letters listing lower cost medications. The question we need to ask our lawmakers is why is this necessary? Does the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services believe we are impoverishing ourselves by using more expensive drugs if a less expensive alternative was effective, to begin with? Unfortunately, sometimes the older, less expensive drugs don't work as well, and with metastatic cancer drugs, quality of life can be at stake. Our sincere thank you to Janice S. a retiree living in Illinois, for sharing the following..Osterholm added that "vaccines will not become available in any meaningful way until early to third quarter of next year."."These practices pose a risk of severe tissue damage and corrosive injury and should be strictly avoided," the CDC researchers wrote in a paper, published in the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. "Although adverse health effects reported by respondents could not be attributed to their engaging in high-risk practices, the association between these high-risk practices and reported health effects indicates a need for public health messaging regarding safe and effective cleaning practices aimed at preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in households.".Fresh is not always more healthful than frozen. From the moment fruits and vegetables are harvested, they begin to lose nutrients. Fruits and vegetables grown in North America may spend up to 5 days in transit before arriving at a distribution center, and another 1-3 days on display prior to purchase. Consumers may keep their produce for up to 7 days prior to consumption. Consequently, fresh produce can lose a considerable amount of nutrients before consumption. A University of California study found, for example, that vitamin C losses in vegetables stored 7 days range from 15% for green peas, to 77% for green beans. Unless you are harvesting and consuming your own home grown fruits and vegetables within a few hours of picking, frozen choices may be just as high in nutrients..Social Security checks in 2020 are almost 20 percent lower than they otherwise would be, due to the long term impact of extremely low annual inflation adjustments, according to a new analysis from The Senior Citizens League. This analysis comes as the Social Security Administration announced today that the 2021 cost of - living adjustment COLA will be just 1.3 percent, making it one of the lowest ever paid.