If you take one or more prescriptions, you may be shocked to learn how much you can save by comparing plans based on the prescriptions you use and switching drug plans, when you find a better match. This is an important financial habit to get into EVERY year. Drug plans routinely raise premiums and co-pays, and invariably what your best choice was in 2006 no longer holds true today. Although everyone's savings experience will be different based on the particular prescriptions they take, consider these cases from my files**: .The article continued, "The NBER study zeros in on how increases in prescription drug costs among Medicare recipients affect patient choices and comes to a stark finding: ‘Patient cost-sharing introduces large and deadly distortions into the cost-benefit calculus,' the report said." .Four Key Bills Gain Support in Congress .If the Social Security COLA were based on a more accurate measure of inflation for senior citizens, next year's increase would not be 0.3 percent – it would be 2.1 percent according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Do you support legislation that would base the COLA on a more accurate inflation index like the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly? .Do not engage with these calls or provide any personal information! If you get such a call or any call demanding your Social Security or bank account number, hang up. Don't respond to any recorded message. If you tend to get such calls, consider setting your phone up to allow an answering machine or voice mail to record or prescreen your calls. .A second of the measures the President signed on Saturday aims to provide 0 in weekly unemployment aid for millions of Americans. Trump said 25 percent of this money would be paid by states, many of which are already dealing with major budget shortfalls. The federal contribution would be redirected from disaster relief money at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Those funds are not likely to last more than two months, and the President did not say when the benefits would kick in. .Nine prominent physician groups recently released lists of 45 common tests and treatments they say are often unnecessary. The problem is costing you dearly — as much as one third of every healthcare dollar, researchers say. As someone supposed to be giving you tips on how to save money, I'm embarrassed to admit that earlier this year I was a victim of overzealous medical testing. I'm not on Medicare yet, but what happened to me is happening to millions of those of you who are. .The financial impact of six years of low COLAs isn't immediately apparent to the average person, but "It's a big one, " Cates says. A new analysis for TSCL that compared the increases from 2010 through 2015 against the prior 3% average found that, altogether, the benefits of the typical Social Security recipient will be about ,298 lower by the end of 201In 2015 the average monthly Social Security benefit will be about 3 lower, and ,356 less for the year. .Last week we wrote about a new bill that was expected to be introduced this week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that would lower prescription drug prices on some of the most expensive drugs. The plan would allow the secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate the price of up to 250 drugs per year, and the lower prices would apply to people both with private insurance and those on Medicare.