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Don't be
fooled by tomorrow's 2009 COLA announcement:
Millions of Seniors will be misled
Estimated 5.8
percent COLA increase will likely be touted
as largest since 1982, but would leave
millions of Seniors below Poverty Line
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- The Social Security Administration,
scheduled to announce the 2009 COLA
tomorrow, will likely tout the largest
increase to seniors' Social Security checks
since 1982.
However, the announcement
will almost certainly obscure the fact that
the increase still badly trails inflation,
will leave seniors with less buying power
than they currently have, and will thrust
more elderly Americans into poverty.
Although the COLA is intended
to help seniors keep up with inflation, a
recent study by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL)
that analyzed 15 key expenditures found that
people 65 and over have lost 51 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 eggs and
potatoes have increased by 137 and 97
percent, respectively.
In addition, the average
Medicare Part D prescription drug program
will increase by 24 percent next year, and
home heating oil this winter is forecast to
increase by 23 percent from last year.
The Senior Citizens League
projection for a 5.8 percent increase for
2009 is based on CPI-W data released from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics through
August 2008.
"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.
"Seniors know that
even the relatively large increase isn't
nearly enough to shield them from costs
skyrocketing by double digits."
A majority of the 50 million
Americans 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.
With 1.2 million members and
supporters, The Senior Citizens League is
one of the nation's largest nonpartisan
seniors groups.
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