Social Security cost of living adjustments must be protected

A 3.6% Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) announced Wednesday is welcome news for older Americans facing higher prices for everyday essentials like groceries, utilities and health care. But new AARP polling finds most people feel they would need a 5% to 7% increase just to keep up with inflation, which hit 3.7% in September.

Powered by spikes in energy prices, inflation surges to 3.7%

Beginning in 2027, the COLA will increase Social Security payments, on average, $900 a year or $75 a month.

AARP fought for and won automatic, yearly COLAs in 1972 because Americans needed reliable protection from rising prices. Before then, increasing Social Security payments required an act of Congress. That protection remains essential for the 248,674 people receiving Social Security here in Rhode Island.

Currently, Social Security is the foundation of retirement security for 185 million workers nationally who are contributing with every paycheck. At AARP, we will never stop fighting to protect Social Security for today’s retirees, their children and grandchildren.

Older Americans across the political spectrum expect Congress to protect this vital cost of living protection. In AARP’s recent poll of competitive Congressional districts, 85% of voters over 50 said they would be more likely to vote for candidates who would protect Social Security from cuts, including reducing the annual cost-of-living adjustment.

One in five have no retirement savings, and more people feel financially insecure this year than last. That makes the COLA critically important. It helps millions of Americans keep up with rising costs for groceries, routine bills, health care and other everyday expenses. Yet special interests in Washington still want to weaken or eliminate the COLA, which would amount to cutting tens of thousands of dollars for middle-class seniors. But as AARP Chief Executive Officer Myechia Minter-Jordan emphasized this week, “We will not let that happen.”

Earlier this week, AARP’s Public Policy Institute (PPI) released this new analysis showing how proposals to change the COLA to an alternate measure of inflation would significantly reduce lifetime benefits. The analysis found:

• Changing the COLA calculation to what’s called a “chained CPI” would mean a reduction in benefits that would compound over time, resulting in benefits 3.7% lower at age 75 and 9.2% lower at age 95 for a beneficiary claiming Social Security at age 62.

• This change would mean a loss of approximately $17,500 for the average male retired worker and $13,400 for the average female retired worker who retired in 2001.

• AARP has previously fought against such a change successfully. 

Even a modest reduction today in overall Social Security benefits, the PPI reports, could have significant consequences for Americans’ financial security, health, and overall well-being. The . The AARP survey released this week found:

• About one-third of adults 50-plus might use savings faster (36%) or save less (32%).

• People who are highly reliant on Social Security would be more likely to cut health services (41%) or delay medical care (25%).
• More than one in five people reliant on Social Security (22%) would provide less financial help to families, and nearly as many highly reliant recipients would visit family less often (19%).

Social Security is the only inflation-protected source of income for most seniors in retirement, and AARP has long fought to protect the COLA and ensure that retirees get the full value of the benefits that they’ve earned throughout their careers. 

AARP will never stop fighting to protect and strengthen the Social Security you earned, including its COLAs.