Social Security adjustment may be lower

[OhioChick]

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
1 hour, 7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The nation's nearly 49 million Social Security recipients are in line to get a smaller average increase in their monthly benefit checks in 2007 than they did this year, though less of the gain will be eaten up by rising Medicare premiums.

Private economists are predicting an increase of around 3.4 percent for 2007. That follows a benefit increase of 4.1 percent this year, which was the largest percentage rise in 15 years.

The Social Security Administration was to announce the 2007 cost of living adjustment, or COLA, on Wednesday. Social Security recipients will see the increase reflected in their January checks.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, said he expected the increase would be 3.4 percent, which would translate into an increase of around $34 for the average Social Security recipient, currently getting a monthly check of $1,011.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061018/ap_on_go_ot/social_security

[xchrom]

1. 1,011?!?!

i pity the person trying to live on that in cal.

[Donnachaidh]

2. that's going by people getting ready to retire NOW

There are elderly out there who are living on 50% that amount right now. After paying into the system all their working lives.

[xchrom]

6. horrifying. n/t

[Yupster]

17. That should be a warning to us all

Don't assume you'll be able to live on social security.

You need to be saving every month of your lives whether it's $ 25 or $ 400.

With the pressure social security is going to be under, it's probably going to get worse, not better.

[acmejack]

3. The life of Reilly.

The compassion of the conservatives knows no limits...

[WePurrsevere]

4. Now subtract from that the Medicare increase of $5. (5.6%)...

$34. is the average increase if this is what we're given. For some, like myself, it means I won't get much of an increase at all ($12. month after paying more for Medicare), it will be eaten up once again by the Medicare increase... DH will get $39. more.

woo hoo :sarcasm:
Our electric, heating oil, food, gas, etc costs have increased more then that so that each year we have less to live on. Thank goodness we now live in a lower cost area and own this house mortgage free or we'd be even worse off.

Every darn Congress person should have to live on that average SS benefit for 1 year and follow the same rules for allowed extra income. :grr:

I'm really hoping these economists SWAG is wrong and it's more... every little bit helps.

[izzie]

5. This was to be part of a retirement and for people who ended

up with a dead husband and kids. It was never for a full retirement even if many use it as that. They also figure the COLA in an odd way for my way of thinking. Why should every one get a percent? I think they should get a flat fee. Bread goes up a flat amount and not a percent. The increase in food cost me just as much as it cost the person getting twice the SS check I get.

[MiniMe]

7. It was never meant to be full retirement, but companies had pensions then

It was seen as an insurance policy that everybody paid into. Fewer and fewer companies are giving pensions now, and many that had been promised a pension have had their pension plans bankrupt, or done away with. It will get worse if they get the SS privitazation through.

[izzie]

19. I believe in SS 100 percent and we must have it.

I was only saying something about it. I know first hand about being low in income and being old. As a young women I did not give it enough thought or do enough for my self. My base income is a retirement fund that I can not control fully as it is private with a bank and that is the big problem. So in many ways right now I have 3 retirements paying me and I could not live on any one but it takes the three. Watch what you do with a private fund you put away and how you do it. My fund grows but pays little.

[WePurrsevere]

8. SS is also for the disabled who aren't always old enough for "retirement"

and may not be able to supplement their income in any way or have enough saved to help when they become disabled. Unfortunately in many cases what may have been saved has been used to survive while battling it out with SS admin... this was the case when my DH became disabled.

I tend to agree that a flat amount would be better then it is IF they took the highest benefit and the increase were based on the amount it could work. What I'd truly like to see is these increases done quarterly to keep up with inflation better. A few months into the year and things are already very tight when inflation is high.

[WCGreen]

10. I get w whopping $553.00 a month...

[WePurrsevere]

11. That's about what I get before Medicare is taken out. Thankfully DH

gets more but before I married him I was a single mom trying to raise two girls on that plus around $7.00 per child from them... needless to say I needed gov help just to survive. That just made what to me was a bad situation worse... as I'm sure you know accepting that kind of help is not always easy on ones ego.

[WCGreen]

12. Well, I got on just because of the insurance

[fasttense]

9. This is all we get after paying double the SS tax?????????

Raygun doubled the Baby Boomer's taxes so the Boomers could be the first generation to pay for their parent's retirement and their own retirement. So how come after paying well over 20 years of double SS taxes, the money I get back isn't even equal to inflation??? Why don't we check Cheney's and Halliburton pockets and see if our SS tax dollars are in there?

[AzDar]

13. That's a fine idea. I wonder if we'll ever really know how much has

been looted by Bush/Cheney and their cronies?

[underpants]

14. Oh good we get to see all the suits explaining to the older folks

about dollars and cents and how much better they are doing..... blah blah blah

I love watching the "Me or your lying eyes" routine.

[Lugnut]

15. Wow

I'll get a whopping $28 increase. :mad:

[WePurrsevere]

16. UPDATE: Social Security benefits to rise 3.3% (not 3.4%)

http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/18/pf/retirement/ssa_cola/

Plus, 11 million workers will be paying more into Social Security due to an increase in the taxable maximum on wages.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The more than 53 million Social Security beneficiaries will receive a 3.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment in 2007, the Social Security Administration reported Wednesday.

<snip>
The cost of living adjustment in Social Security benefits will increase the average payment to $1,713 a month for a married couple where both receive benefits. That's up from $1,658 this year.
<snip>

[belab13]

18. and does anybody still question that the decline in energy prices

was not manufactured.

lower energy= lower cpi, ppi, cola= translates into reduced benefits for social security recipients

an outrage imo

[cosmicdot]

20. k&r

meanwhile, rent is being increased 7.5% (negotiated down from 10%)


Medicare B premiums going up (oh, they can go 5.6%, but SS can only go up 3.3%); and, Medicare B premiums don't include Medicare Rx monthly premiums (Medicare D). Medicare B is better than nothing when you have nothing else, but the payments going to doctors for services keep getting reduced, causing increased out of pocket expenses for folks on fixed income.