New Service for
TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com readers...roll mouse over, click on
highlighted links in stories to review items from Amazon
Click here for more on 2008
Social Security COLA and review tables of
payments, benefits
Five
million Seniors remain in poverty despite
today's 2008 Social Security Cost of Living
Adjustment announcement
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2007 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Earlier this morning, the Social Security
Administration announced that seniors will
receive an additional 2.3 percent in their
Social Security checks beginning in January,
2008. That represents the lowest increase in
four years.
But despite the increase,
at least five million people aged 65 and
over will remain in poverty, since costs are
rising significantly faster than the annual
Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment
(COLA).
Between 2001 and 2008,
Medicare Part B premiums will have soared by
more than 93 percent while the COLA will
have 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.
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. "An
annual increase of two percent just isn't
enough to shield seniors from costs that are
rising by double digits."
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 asmuch 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 $10,300 more over the
past 23 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 (TSCL)
is one of the nation's largest nonpartisan
seniors groups. TSCL is a proud affiliate of
The Retired Enlisted Association. Visit
http://www.seniorsleague.org/ for more
information.
...
...
...