Petition to Congress: Support using the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) for Social Security COLAs

Without an accurate cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that keeps pace with rising costs, beneficiaries lose purchasing power, especially over the course of a retirement that could last 25 to 30 years. This loss is cumulative and grows deeper as retirees age. It can cause substantial hardships, including more rapid depletion of savings than expected, growing debt, and worse health outcomes. In short, a meaningful deterioration in an older household’s standard of living.

According to TSCL’s research, Social Security benefits have lost 20 percent of their purchasing power since 2010 due in large part to inadequate COLAs. To address this growing issue, TSCL urges Congress to adopt legislation that would base the COLA on an inflation index specifically for seniors, like the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E).

Under current law, the COLA is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), which underestimates the inflation Social Security beneficiaries experience because it does not give enough weight to expenses like health care or housing costs.

The Senior Citizens League will gather online and print petitions to advocate collectively to Congress urging them to use the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) for Social Security COLAs.

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