This summary from an AP report means that every senior relying on Social Security as their primary income source will have to continue looking for new ways to reduce their spending.
Millions of retired and disabled people in the United States had better brace for another year with no increase in Social Security payments.
The government is projecting a slight cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits next year, the first increase since 2009. But for most beneficiaries, rising Medicare premiums threaten to wipe out any increase in payments, leaving them without a raise for a third straight year.
Older people might feel they are falling behind because they haven’t had a raise since 2009, but many are benefiting, said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration who is now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Consumer prices dropped, but Social Security benefits didn’t drop, Biggs said. At the same time, health care costs went up, but Part B premiums stayed the same for most beneficiaries.
They are better off because of that,” Biggs said. “Somebody else is paying for a greater share of their health care. This will get me hate mail, obviously. But it is what it is.”
Next year, the trustees who oversee the Social Security project a 1.2 percent COLA. President Barack Obama, in his spending proposal for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, projects a COLA of 0.9 percent. The average monthly payment is $1,077, so either way, the typical increase is projected to be between $10 and $13.
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