Posted on 10/15/2015 11:18:53 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
WASHINGTON — The 60 million people on Social Security will not receive any cost-of-living increase in their benefits in 2016, the government said on Thursday, but because of a quirk in federal law, nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries could see record increases in their premiums unless Congress intervenes.
With millions of older Americans on fixed incomes facing that one-two punch, the Obama administration is urging Congress to moderate or stop the health insurance premium increases, which could raise the cost for some Medicare beneficiaries by about 50 percent — the largest increase, by far, in the history of Medicare. But the House’s leadership crisis could prove to be an obstacle.
Social Security has provided automatic cost-of-living adjustments in every year since 1975 with two exceptions, 2010 and 2011. But inflation was extremely low in 2015, leading to another benefit freeze, Social Security officials said. Gasoline prices, in particular, have declined sharply, holding down overall prices in the economy.
The purpose of the automatic increases is to preserve the purchasing power of Social Security benefits. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Not possible. Obama said average health insurance premium would go down by $2500.
Simple question. When gas prices went up, what effect did that have?
>>The purpose of the automatic increases is to preserve the purchasing power of Social Security benefits. . .
Wages aren’t keeping up either.
So when fuel and food prices are rising rapidly they are volatile, and excluded from CPI, so no COLA increase. But now, when fuel prices are falling they are dominating all other costs, so no COLA increase. Got it: whatever happens, no COLA increase. During the Obama presidency we have seen fuel and food costs increase more than any other living generation of Americans, but somehow we have the first three years of ZERO COLA increases in the history of the social security program. I don’t draw social security, but this is outrageous. Using the CPI to peg SS and COLA is stupid for other reasons beyond this blatant fraud. “Real” cost of living is influenced by real estate taxes, increased cost of education, increased housing costs, increased cost of services, and many other factors not considered at all.
Medicare part A is free for those who qualify. It's the optional parts that keep increasing. A lot of my friends say it's the co-pays that are increasing dramatically.
Funny how “the quirks” always end up being the Feds take more money. One might think they are simply corrupt.
Mine just went up $4,800.00, which is a $7,300.00 difference of the bogus Obama claim. It also means my income was just reduced by $4,800.00.
That’s my yearly health insurance plan costs, in case I didn’t make that clear.
Oh, kwitcherkikken. You say yourself you’re not even on Social Security. Medicare needs to stay viable, so we’ll pay whatever we have to. Social Security was never intended to be a stand alone pension plan even though it is possible to live exclusively on it if one’s home is paid for and there is little or no debt. People who couldn’t be bothered to plan for retirement and now complain about it are due about as much sympathy as college grads with student loans and degrees in useless fields.
Essentially, a cut in pay.
I would be fine with no increase in Social Security, if the entire amount of the Social Security stipend were not subject to a sliding scale of income tax liability.
That was very cleverly signed into law some years back (1984), and has not since been repealed.
Social Security benefits increased.
However, the SSA keeps track of the CPI they use, from year to year. If it was something like:
2010: -1%
2011: -1%
2012: +3%
There would be no change in benefits in 2011, or 2012. But, in 2013, there would be only a 1% increase -- because those two years of decreases are subtracted.
The net effect is that SS beneficiaries got 2/3rd of the 3% increase in earlier years -- by not actually lowering them.
The article discusses some of the issues, but it turns out that energy prices are a significant part of the CPI calculation used by the SSA. So, a big drop in gas prices (and heating oil, natural gas, electricity, etc.) cancels out increases in groceries.
I think there's a good point to be made: medical expenses are a larger part of senior's budgets. The CPI calculation used by the SSA should account for that.
I agree with everything you say, and I can assure I am well set up for retirement now, even though it is decades away, even if the government took social security and my 401k, I could retire today and be quite comfortable. I am simply pointing out that the way cost of living increases are calculated is a con game. Those who do depend on COLA adjustments are being robbed,and this includes our soldiers and marines.
Health insurance for $ 159.00 per month?
Health insurance for $ 159.00 per month?
Health insurance for $ 159.00 per month?
I wonder if the people who live in the wonderful world of senior benefits have any idea what regular people pay for health insurance.
There’s this ....
The majority of [SS] enrollees will not face any increase because there is a “hold-harmless” provision in federal law that protects most people from Part B increases if there is no corollary cost-of-living increase in Social Security.
http://www.oann.com/cost-of-living-adjustment-is-what-needs-adjustment/
Good. The sooner we gut these socialist programs, the better.
When under what president did borrowing from Social security begin, and was that President the one that passed the bill to borrow from it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.