Thankfully, not everyone in Washington is blind to what’s coming. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) have sponsored legislation that would address Social Security’s long-term solvency, eliminate the payroll tax cap over time while boosting benefits for all beneficiaries by approximately $70 per month, and switch the cost of living formula to the more accurate consumer price index for the elderly (CPI-E).
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#politics #social security #COLA #seniors #elderly #retirement #retirees #cpieWhen a candidate promises to “save these programs for future generations” by raising the retirement age, raising the Medicare eligibility age, privatizing Social Security, changing the COLA formula and means-testing Social Security while exempting near retirees what they’re actually saying is: “We know seniors vote so we’ll protect them now and slash future benefits for their children and grandchildren instead.
But they also call for switching COLAs to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly or CPI-E, designed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPI-E would boost Social Security payments without worsening the system’s deficit.
via The Social Security Fix That Could Help the Poorest Retirees.
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But if the CPI-E determined the Social Security COLA, the expected average COLA would increase about 0.2 percentage points per year.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the great Social Security program. It was designed to give workers an income after retirement.
Today, it’s not so great. The tiny Social Security increase that will be bestowed on retirees and the elderly in January is a cruel fraud perpetrated by the government. That’s because increases in Medicare Part B and Part D insurance premiums will negate all of the Social Security 2% cost of living increase for many recipients. Instead of staying even, we’ll fall behind.
I just got my annual benefits letter from Social Security. It says I will get $24 a month more next year. However, after the Medicare premium increases, my new Social Security check will be $3.40 a month less than the one I currently get. (The government deducts Medicare premiums from Social Security checks.)
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Social Security is indispensable for many of our nation’s retirees, who depend on the program for retirement security. But for the 65 million people on Social Security, there will be no annual raise in their benefits in 2016.
via NJ.com.
No COLA Increase for Millions of Seniors.
No Social Security COLA Increase + Massive Medicare Hike for Millions.
Today’s announcement that there will be no Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase next year, for only the third time in 40 years, means that millions of seniors who rely on their Social Security to get by will once again find their expenses outpacing their Social Security benefit.
via Entitled to Know.
Seniors have earned their benefits and many don’t have much else to live on. For more than one-third of retirement beneficiaries, Social Security constitutes at least 90 percent of income. Half of people aged 65 to 74 have no retirement savings. Without Social Security, almost half of the elderly would live in poverty.
For years, seniors have told us that they need their Social Security benefits boosted. They want fairer cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) that reflect retirees’ true living expenses. They say it’s time for the wealthy to start paying their fair share in Social Security payroll contributions. Congressman John Larson’s Social Security 2100 Act would achieve all of that – and more.
The bill would keep the system solvent for nearly the rest of this century while modestly boosting benefits – and cutting taxes for retirees. Not only do seniors and advocates support this bill, the American public has affirmed the proposals that it embodies in poll after poll, across party lines and age groups.
Fortunately, a better formula exists. It’s called the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly — or CPI-E — based on a ‘basket’ of goods and services that reflects older Americans’ spending patterns.
Some in Washington have proposed the Chained CPI, which would be a Social Security benefit cut to seniors, veterans, and the disabled. It is important to use a more accurate way of calculating the COLA formula, which is the CPI-E.
Last week’s announcement that there will be a tiny .3% Social Security
COLA increase next year means that 40 million seniors who rely on their
Social Security to get by will once again find their expenses outpacing
their Social Security benefit.
