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 ...
“Yeah, you’re right brainiac, seniors were born old and just skipped over that “regular people” part of life.”
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Thanks for your response to an inane comment.
.
Sometimes the level of stupidity on FR just amazes me.
“Gasoline prices, in particular, have declined sharply, holding down overall prices in the economy.”
Gas and food aren’t included in inflation calculations so I find this to be deceptive.
Ouch. And you probably have a deductible in the thousands.
“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.”
Huh? Natural gas prices aren’t related to gasoline prices. And electricity rates aren’t impacted by gasoline prices - natural gas power plants will be affected by natural gas prices, but again, it has no correlation to gasoline prices. And natural gas plants are dwarfed by the MW produced by coal and nuclear plants.
Heating oil I know nothing about- but I wouldn’t trust this article anyway.
Yep, tight and getting tighter.
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