Is it time for Congress to change the Social Security COLA? Gains could be offset by faster rising Medicare costs.

Newsweek via MSN ^ | 11/27/2025 | Aliss Higham

[SeekAndFind]

Jackson Ruggiero, co-founder of DisabilityGuidance.org, told Newsweek that while the relief is “meaningful cash for households on tight budgets, it’s temporary and non-compounding.” Without a structural change, he says, the baseline benefits for seniors would not improve in the long term.

Even if the COLA formula changes to CPI-E, some gains could be offset by rising Medicare costs. The standard Medicare Part B premium will increase to $202.90 per month in January 2026, up from $185, marking the first time premiums have topped $200.

Over the last three years, these premiums have consistently risen faster than COLAs. Benton emphasizes that “rising Part B premiums have been ruining seniors’ finances” and warns that Congress must act to rein in health care costs if retirement income is to remain sustainable.

[lightman]

Yup.

My COLA will be about a 0.5% CUT "thanks" to the Part B increase.

NOBOD (even on FR) wants to acknowledge much less discuss this but there will NEVER be real health cost containment/reform without real TORT REFORM!

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Exactly spot on. I don't get excited about COLAs because I known that which the
government gives, it immediately confiscates (and then some) by way of Medicare.

[Vermont Lt]

We must start educating our kids that Social Security is a safety net. No one should be retiring thinking SS is going to foot the bill for your entire income.

[Bayard]

People should be saving money for life anyway but that’s not tought in schools. Money neve spent is more income than money earned which is taxed.

[doc maverick]

Yes, I have heard seniors say it’s all BS because the government actually takes more because the medicare part B gets raised horrendously every year.
It would help to kick all non-citizens off medicaid, social security and SSI.
They never should have been able to get it in the first place.
Senior CITIZENS are getting fleeced.
So are veterans.

[cherry]

I agree but prices will never come down....these creeps have made billions swindling the public...its almost like the lawyer class loves the health care chaos...more money for them,win or lose.

[Terry L Smith]

I have witnessed every “2%cola” has been eaten by a cost increase of 2.7%. every time, so it’s time to stop throwing all of us on socsec a milk bone biscuit, and release an amount that takes more consideration than talking over the urinal .

[roadcat]

It would help to kick all non-citizens off medicaid, social security and SSI.

Agree, but politicians won’t do that. The COLA I get on my SS benefits are meaningless, eaten by rising Medicare cost. Having said that, I’ve known not to rely on SS and have other resources to live comfortably. I have friends who didn’t save, and are screwed in old age. I also know non-citizens who get benefits but don’t deserve them; they say the USA is a wonderful place to give them free money. You work, and you have to give money to the government. You don’t work, and the government gives money to you.

[Revel]

“People should be saving money for life anyway but that’s not tought in schools. Money neve spent is more income than money earned which is taxed.”

You gotta do a lot more than save it. You have to play it in one of the casino schemes and hope you can beat inflation. And hope you don’ lose it by chance. If you put money in the bank in 1985 it is probably only worth one third of what it was then. If you are lucky. The system is all about theft of savings through inflation.

[Nachoman]

A couple more years of these COLAs and I’ll be fighting the dog for her food.

[noiseman]

We must start educating our kids that Social Security is a safety net. No one should be retiring thinking SS is going to foot the bill for your entire income.

Very true, but for those already on SS, or very close to taking it, their dependence upon it should be protected. In fact, recipients shouldn’t be paying income tax on SS benefits (I know, but I mean a real across the board “no tax on Social Security”), and they shouldn’t be paying constantly escalating premiums on Medicare. Those costs should only occur while you’re still working and paying into the system.

I’m well aware of the math involved, and the predicament that these programs are in. However, punishing those who are now too old to work and are dependent upon them by forcing them to continually pay back a large part of their “benefits” is immoral. The costs and any cuts/restructured terms should be borne by those who are decades away from retiring, who therefore have plenty of time to prepare for major changes. A huge percentage of those younger generations seem to believe in socialism anyway, so it would also be just for them to bear the brunt of the costs. As the older generation die off, those coming up can be migrated to something better and more financially sustainable. This is a temporary problem, but in the meantime the promises made to the older generation should be honored. They’re trapped by dependence upon SS and by things like the constant call for higher wages because of inflation (which would only throw gasoline on the fire of rising prices, devastating those on fixed incomes who have no way to compensate).

The whole thing is of course a huge mess that never should have happened, but the temporary gap that must be bridged (presuming a much better and more responsible system is devised for younger generations) could be filled by simply raising the limit on income that is exposed to FICA taxes. I know none of this is fair, but like it or not we have this system for now and we must ensure that those already dependent upon it do not bear the brunt of the cost to shore it up.

[roving]

A monthly Social Security check rounds out to about $8 or a little more an hour if you were working.

[tired&retired]

This goes back to the early years of Bill Clinton when he changed the formula for computing the cost of living adjustment by allowing manipulation.

I read a study by Dartmouth College about 2010 that explained how Clinton’s change, after his eight years and Bush’s eight years had resulted in Social Security benefits that were only 68% of what they would have been under the old formula.

I’m going to search for that study as it was eye opening how Bill Clinton cut government spending on the backs of the elderly.

[tired&retired]

This is not the original study I read, but it discusses the topic in depth.
prs_brief_1112-03.pdf https://share.google/DcUCARUtyaXVFWS6q

3.3 Possible COLA Design Changes

3.3.1 Chained-CPI-U

The Bureau of Labor Statistics started to calculate a new measure of CPI to try to more accurately measure the increase in cost-of-living. Some believed that keeping the quantities of goods in the typical “basket” of goods constant was misleading. Consumers respond to prices—when prices go up, they buy less of something and if prices go down, they buy more. The old measure, CPI-W, doesn’t assume that consumers adjust their spending patters in response to price change differences. The new measure, Chained-CPI-
U, is designed to take the concept of product substitution into account to calculate the prices of the baskets of goods.

For example, if the price of beef goes up much faster
than the price of chicken, Chained-CPI-U assumes that people will buy less beef and more chicken and adjust the basket of goods accordingly. These adjustments are calculated monthly. According to a research paper from the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics in the Social Security administration, based on data from when the Chained-CPI-U was calculated, if the Chained-CPI-U was used, the COLA would have risen 0.38 percentage points slower than a COLA based on the current measure.

Bipartisan deficit reduction committees, such as the Simpson-Bowles Commission, are looking at using Chained CPI-U as a part of a broad effort to make Social Security solvent in the long run. Because using the Chained-CPI-U measure would yield a slightly smaller COLA increase, it is seen as a way to reduce benefits.

[tired&retired]

The government wonders why the ADD and ADHD diagnosis rate skyrocketed.

Many people were coaching their children how to act this way so they could qualify as disabled and get SSI.

[tired&retired]

October 13, 2022

Social Security’s COLA Increase Is Based on an Outdated Inflation Measure

Social Security’s COLA Increase Is Based on an Outdated Inflation Measure |
https://share.google/UmSidqE9bapjjRad9

[Excellence]

My SS will go up $28 a month and my insurance benefits will actually go down.

[nuconvert]

The 1st thing they need to accomplish is getting all the unqualified people off the Social Sec. benefits list. Then they’ll be able to better judge what the situation is and make changes.

[PIF]

At this rate, pretty soon we will be paying more per month for medicare than the entire SS monthly.