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Social Security News
Proposed 2009 COLA Will Keep Five Million Seniors
Below Poverty Says Senior League
2.8% increase will raise average benefit just $30.20
per month
 Feb. 14, 2008 - Late last month, the Congressional
Budget Office published a little-noticed estimate that forecasts seniors
will receive just a 2.8 percent increase in their Social Security checks
beginning in January, 2009, according to The Senior Citizens League.
Despite the increase, the League says, at least five million people aged
65 and over will remain in poverty, since senior costs are rising
significantly faster than the annual Social Security Cost of Living
Adjustment (COLA).
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Read more
Social Security
News |
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Between 2001 and 2008, Medicare Part B premiums
have soared by more than 93 percent while the COLA has crept up just 19
percent, leaving many seniors on their own to cover all other rising
costs. Part B premiums cover doctors' visits, tests, and outpatient
hospital care.
Although the COLA is intended to help seniors keep
up with inflation, a recent study by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL)
that analyzed eight key expenditures found that people 65 and over have
lost 40 percent of their buying power since 2000.
Expenses such as home
heating oil and gasoline have more than doubled since the beginning of
the decade, while food staples such as potatoes and butter have
increased by 47 and 39 percent, respectively.
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Between 2001
and 2008, Medicare Part B premiums have soared by more than 93
percent while the COLA has crept up just 19 percent... |
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A majority of the 48 million Americans aged 65 and
over who receive a Social Security check depend on it for at least 50
percent of their total income, and one in three beneficiaries relies on
it for 90 percent or more of their total income.
"Social Security is supposed to protect seniors in
need -- but with five million seniors below the poverty line, it's clear
the system is failing them," said Shannon Benton, executive director of
The Senior Citizens League.
"If it's true that a nation's greatness is
defined by how well it treats its most vulnerable citizens, then we must
do a better job of protecting impoverished seniors."
To help offset the cost of Medicare Part B, TSCL is
lobbying for a change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) used to
determine the COLA. The government currently calculates the COLA based
on the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), a
slow-rising index that tracks the spending habits of younger workers who
don't spend as much of their income on health expenditures.
However, the government also tracks the spending
patterns of older Americans with the CPI for Elderly Consumers, or
CPI-E. By tying the annual increase in the COLA to the CPI-E, seniors
would see much needed relief in their monthly checks.
For example, a senior who retired with a benefit of
$460 in 1984 would have received almost $11,200 more over the past 24
years with the CPI-E.
TSCL supports two similar bills in the current
Congress, H.R. 1953 and H.R. 2032, entitled "The Consumer Price Index
for Elderly Consumers."
With 1.2 million supporters, The Senior Citizens
League (www.SeniorsLeague.org) is one of the nation's largest
nonpartisan seniors groups. The Senior Citizens League is a proud
affiliate of The Retired Enlisted Association.
Source: The Senior Citizens League
Website:
http://www.seniorsleague.org/
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