The COLA for 2020 won’t be announced until next month, but one analyst expects just a 1.6% adjustment next year, down from 2.8% in 2019. Mary Johnson, the Social Security and Medicare policy analyst at the Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan advocacy group for retirees, has been tracking COLA since 1996. She anticipated the 2.8% adjustment for last year the month before the Social Security Administration announced its COLA (and estimated correctly).
The 1.6% adjustment would amount to roughly $23 a month for someone receiving the average retirement benefit of $1,460, Johnson said. COLAs have been averaging 1.4% over the last decade, half of the average 3% it was between 2000 and 2009. Last year’s COLA was the first big hike since 2012, when it was 3.6% (in 2018, COLA was 2%, and in 2017, it was 0.3%).
via Marketwatch.
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Dems, Advocates Push Hard for Social Security Expansion.
Richtman said that the 2% across-the-board benefit increase in Congressman Larson’ bill, while modest, could make a big difference for seniors like Nettie. A two-percent boost would equal about $300 annually for the average retiree.
So would the improved cost-of-living (COLA) formula in Larson’s legislation – the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), to help Nettie and other seniors keep pace with inflation.
Unchain seniors from chained inflation index.
…seniors need a more accurate inflation index that reflects their true expense, which are different than younger adults’. Seniors spend almost twice as much on medical care and considerably more on housing than the rest of the population. We favor the CPI-E (Consumer Price Index for the Elderly), which gives extra weight to seniors’ true expenses. The National Committee has endorsed legislation in Congress to adopt the CPI-E for Social Security COLAs, including Rep. John Larson’s (D-Conn.) Social Security 2100 Act, Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) Social Security Expansion Act and Rep. John Garamendi’s (D-Calif.) CPI-E Act.
