Dear John,

If you receive Social Security, you may have been excited to see the bump in your Social Security benefit this month. Older Americans will receive about a $92 monthly increase, on average.

Unfortunately, that Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) will be eaten up quickly by this year’s high Medicare Part B monthly premium and higher inflation that’s increased the cost of virtually everything. We are awaiting a decision by the Biden Administration to roll back at least part of the Part B premium increase, something we and other seniors’ advocacy groups have demanded since the premium hike was announced. Regardless of this decision, millions of Social Security beneficiaries will continue to struggle to pay their monthly bills.

That’s because the current COLA formula is simply inadequate and historically these adjustments have not kept pace with seniors’ rising expenses. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), “federal retirement benefits could be subjected to adjustment based on potentially inaccurate information.” Today, Social Security is basing “raises” off of the spending habits of working-age urban and clerical workers — not off of the very different spending patterns of seniors who are actually receiving Social Security benefits!

Yet, despite the failure of the current COLA formula to keep up with seniors’ rising out-of-pocket health care costs and housing expenses, some politicians are working at cross purposes with seniors. They want benefit cuts and a COLA formula known as the Chained CPI, which would be even worse than what we have today!

While fiscal hawks may claim that the nation cannot afford a more generous COLA formula, it simply isn’t true. In fact, legislation now moving forward in Congress would improve the COLA and protect older Americans against the insidious effects of inflation. And it would be paid for by requiring the very wealthy to pay their fair share into Social Security. It’s all just a matter of political will!

With so much at stake in the weeks and months ahead, our goal is to make sure that our advocacy and grassroots efforts — and our partnership with you and our million+ members and supporters across the country — remains strong. And we’ll be counting on you to remain informed and engaged in the ongoing fight to protect and strengthen Social Security benefits.

Sincerely,

Max Richtman
President & CEO