Social Security COLA's cancelled:

[joeycola]

It also talks of how Medicare premiums are going up. Not a good sign at all to see this---and with 2010 being an election year, it makes it worse.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090823/ap_on_go_ot/us_social_security_smaller_checks

Millions face shrinking Social Security payments

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 23, 7:14 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise. The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.

By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly.

"I will promise you, they count on that COLA," said Barbara Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut who now heads the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. "To some people, it might not be a big deal. But to seniors, especially with their health care costs, it is a big deal."

Cost of living adjustments are pegged to inflation, which has been negative this year, largely because energy prices are below 2008 levels.

[AngryAmish]

1. May I submit that nothing was cancelled?

The COLA is a creature of statute. The COLA goes up on a basis to certain criteria. (Whether or not they are valid criteria is certainly an appropriate subject of debate.)

Anyway, the COLA goes into effect only if ceetain criteria are met. This year they are not. Nothing is being taken away since it is not appropriate to have one under the current statutory regime.

[Love Bug]

4. That's true but it probably won't stop FOX, Beck, Limbaugh, etc., from spinning it as

"Obama's taking your SS money to pay for health care for illegal immigrants!!!!!! The sky is falling!!!

You heard it here first, folks!

[joeycola]

6. Point taken. Thanks. But no increase will mean the same.

[Orsino]

14. Then perhaps the OP's title should be corrected.

It was your wording, and it's inaccurate.

[pinto]

7. I wish the AP piece had chosen a clearer headline and some background on COLA statute.

I realize that the gist of the piece may be that the net effect is less buying power, since Soc Sec payments will remain at 2009 levels. That's true, given cost of living will likely increase in 2010.

The headline, as you note, implies something else.

Soc Sec COLA's vary annually - recently ~ 2 - 3%, this year ('09) it was 5.8% And as you note it's a set statute with a set formula.

(Sometimes I hate how the media presents a story. While the formula is convoluted, the fact that Soc Sec COLA is set by one is pretty simple to understand, if it just gets mentioned. Aghh.)

Thanks for the post.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

17. That would be nice

but accuracy for them is just wishful thinking. It just makes people think *wrong* things. :eyes:

[quiller4]

18. You are so right. When the cost of living is dropping there should be

no COLA. That isn't to say my spouse and I couldn't find a way to spend a COLA if we got one but with gas down, our utility rate down, our property tax down(dropped $11 monthly on one of those programs to average our annual costs), our food bill down almost $60 mo where is there any justification? Even our prescription drug bill is down from $32/mo to $19/mo.

[zippy890]

23. Its tied into the cost of living index

by regulation.

[tritsofme]

2. In the stimulus there was a one time bonus to all SS recipients

This was the equvialent of a COLA adjustment.

[DrToast]

13. Good point. I forgot about that. n/t

[windbreeze]

28. sorry, that wasn't even close to equaling a monthly raise in pay

from a COLA...but then, it's a shell game anyway...they give it with one hand, and take it back for medicare with the other...so you never even get to break even...and is someone trying to tell me that the cost of living hasn't risen in the last year??? Funny how a loaf of store made french bread has gone from $1.29 to $2.00 and how a 10# bag of C&H sugar has gone from $4.99 to $7.45 and that's just two examples...how about gas, electric and just plain necessities...or loss of house value...like I said..it's all a shell game...watch what this hand is doing, so you don't see what the other hand is stealing from you...wb

(we just thought we had our retirement all figured out, ten years ago, we'd have been fine, presently...we are not so fine)

[quiller4]

33. Actually the one time payment of $250 exceeded several of

the monthly raises from past years. While I wouldn't have any trouble spending an increase, our cost of living has declined pretty significantly. For the first year since we bought into this mobile park in 2002, the space rent has not gone up. The billing rate for electric and sewer (a flat rate charged monthly based on past year's usage) dropped $48 monthly.

We aren't driving any less and we are paying almost $100 less each month for gas. We drive older vehicles and our car insurance premium dropped just over 15%. Our grocery bill is down enough that I've been transfering an additional $150 to savings each month out of our grocery budget. BOA has twice lowered our Visa rate so our cost of credit is down.

Even with the reduction in my TIAA/CREF income, we are in better shape now than we were a year ago because so many of our costs have gone down.

[windbreeze]

42. WOW...

sounds like you have it made...are you telling me that you have received less than $20.83 a month COLA on your SS at some time previously?..I must be too old to remember that....I didn't say I was ungrateful for the $250...only that it didn't work out to what a COLA would be....

I'd like to know how you aren't driving less, but you are still saving $100 PER MONTH on fuel costs...Gasoline is still $2.97 a gallon here, and I still live 30 miles from any town in any direction...

Wish my electric would go down $48 a month...and my water too...when I moved in here, water was a $10 flat rate...now it's closer $30, and with a notice a month or so ago, that it could go up again...

I don't know what my car insurance bill will be like, but it hasn't dropped any year up to now...Now true, I could drop full coverage, but at my age, when I am out and about...I want to know I can call a tow truck if need be...w/o it costing me several hundred bucks out of my pocket..before I even consider what it would take to fix my car if it breaks down...

so all things considered...no, my costs are not going down like yours are...no matter what I do..some things are beyond MY control..all I can do is try to keep up...and when prices keep going up locally...then I can't afford to shop local...wb

I'd suggest you should stay where you are...sounds like the right place to be...

[Peacetrain]

3. First of all.. the cola is dependent upon inflation rates..no inflation, no cola..

(that is the good news).. that is the talking points of the new right wing push to scare seniors.. if you were not aware of that, you have been informed.

[DrToast]

11. Yep...if anything COLA should be negative this year

But the rules says that payments can't decrease.

[global1]

5. If Timing Is Anything - This Isn't Good.....

not when Seniors are concerned about health care and this health care reform. I was with my 85y/o Mother yesterday and she was saying she don't know how she could make it if she didn't have SS to rely on. She thanked FDR and was hoping that Obama gets this health reform passed.

[doc03]

8. My mother has been on SS for 30 plus years

and what they giveth in COLA is usually nearly offset buy what they taketh in Medicare. So this year SS will actually be cut after the Medicare deduction, you know the right wingers will convince about 90% of the seniors Obama cut their SS. This is not good.

[pinto]

9. Good point. n/t

[dflprincess]

25. And while there may be no official rise in the "cost of living"

my Mom's rent went up this month - not much but when all you have is Social Security, any amount is too much.

[hedgehog]

26. No amount of explanations will get through to people who will be comparing

this check to that check.

[theothersnippywshrub]

29. Any increase in premiums for Medicare Part B can not exceed the increase in Social Security benefits

So no increase in SS benefit means no increase in Medicare Part B premium. However, this does not apply to premiums for Medicare Part D. So if a SS beneficiary has the premium for Medicare Part D deducted from his or her SS benefit, and if that premium goes up next year, then the SS benefit will be lower.

[quiller4]

34. There will be no increase in Part B for 2010.

[BOSSHOG]

10. This also applies to military retirees

No complaint here but our "raises" are contingent on COLA.

[spartan61]

16. Any raise in my pension is also dependant on COLA.

As a retired teacher from CT, I don't get SS.

[Nedsdag]

12. This is bad.

Many seniors live off their SS including my mother. Without the COLA, many seniors will struggle.

[scheming daemons]

15. COLA means "Cost of Living Allowance". since the Cost of Living has gone down, this is appropriate

When prices are flat, so should COLA increases be.


Please make a valid argument why SS payments should go up when the cost of living hasn't?


You can't.

[doc03]

32. Isn't there certain things that are excluded from the COLA

isn't food and rent excluded from the SS COLA? Neither of them have gone down. Isn't the reason the COLA went down because of gas prices? How many seniors don't drive anyway?

[quiller4]

35. Food sure has gone down around here. Reduced fuel prices

resulted in pretty sharp declines in grocery produce prices.

[Bluenorthwest]

38. You live in a very special place! Where is that, where the prices of

everything are plummeting? Please let me know, as the opposite is going on around here. Enjoy your mountains of savings!

[doc03]

40. I would like to know where they are myself

food prices went through the roof last year when gas prices were so high and never dropped one red cent when the gas went down.

[quiller4]

44. I live in Lakewood, WA but my sisters in Tacoma and Portland

have both been talking about how much grocery money they are tucking into savings at the end of the month.

My nephew is the food buyer for a Seattle restaurant. He says that their cost of local produce is down substantially compared to last year.

[windbreeze]

43. I want to know where that is...

you keep saying your grocery costs have gone down so much that you can put an extra $150 a month in the bank...I'd really like to know where that is?? because I guarantee you...it is NOT the norm where I live..and gasoline here is still almost $3.00 a gallon...not much less than it was last year...sure, it's possible to find this or that on sale...but it has to be something you need or want for it to matter..and prices for everything else are either going up or staying the same...wb

[quiller4]

45. I filled our van at $2.69 last Sat. This time last year it was over

$4. I live in Lakewood and shop in Lakewood and Tacoma. My sister in Tacoma has reported similar savings. She has a larger family and does most of her shopping at COSTCO.

[windbreeze]

47. Yeah...so do I....but

gas is not $2.69 a gallon where I live...and I never paid over $4.00 a gallon for it, even in our little town...come to think of it, I haven't been into town in a week or so...so maybe it has come down(as I said, I don't drive more than I have too)...last time I went to town it was $2.97 a gallon...sugar was $7.49 for 10# and a loaf of fr.bread was $2.00...and steak, somewhere around $7.a pound or gr beef, even the cheap stuff is over $3....LOL...well, let's just say I can't afford to shop locally at those prices...and at Costco...gr.beef used to be $2.79 a pound...now it's $2.99...bagels used to be $3.99 for a two pack of six, and now they are $4.99...that's just a couple prices...and yes, some others have come down..(but then perhaps if I weren't helping support 3 g.kids...I might be doing better financially)wb

[high density]

37. Food is down from what I can see

Some things I am buying are 20% cheaper than about a year ago. It's kind of amazing.

[emilyg]

39. Not in my area.

[doc03]

41. Food prices aren't down here either

everyone talks about how the prices all went up when fuel prices were high but never dropped when they went down.

[quiller4]

36. We live on Social Security and pension income and it is stretching

farther this year than last.

[joeglow3]

19. Cost of living dropped 2.2%

Per Money Talk (I have not confirmed the numbers). Assuming this is true, I am not sure why anyone is shocked by this.

[joeglow3]

20. And who unrecommends this kind of stuff???? nm

[Teaser]

22. watch me

.

[joeglow3]

24. Ahhhh.

I see what you said about the posters name and post count (I am not that observant). That said, this topic does not upset me, as it is a verifable fact that impacts millions of people (and MANY here). That is all I was getting at.

[Teaser]

21. odd that you worked the topic into your user handle

do you do that here often?

[theothersnippywshrub]

30. Good catch. n/t

[rox63]

27. We knew last year that this was going to happen

So please don't try to blame this one on Obama.

[theothersnippywshrub]

31. Bush and the republican Congress refused to limit increases in premiums

for Medicare Part D (prescription drug benefit) to the amount of the increase in a beneficiary's Social Security benefit as any increase in the premium for Part B is limited. If Part D premium increases were limited in the same way, no one would see a decrease in Social Security benefits.

[Dappleganger]

46. Yet Congress has no problem voting themselves a raise every year.

They have no problem screwing over seniors.