Increase in Social Security benefits means seniors could get more money
A new proposal in Congress to change how to calculate the yearly Cost-of-Living-Adjustment could lead to an increase in monthly Social Security benefits.
The Boosting Benefits and Cola for Seniors Act requires the use of the Consumer Price Index for all Americans 62 years and older to set the yearly COLA change, according to the bill proposed by Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona.
For the moment, COLA benefits are adjusted with the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W.
“A monthly Social Security check is how most seniors make ends meet, we need it to pay our bills and pay for health co-pays and medications,” Roman Ulman, president of AFSCME Arizona Retirees Chapter 97, said in a statement from Gallego’s office. “The current annual Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA) formula does not account for the inflation seniors see in health care costs. It’s important that the COLA reflects how inflation impacts seniors so that we can pay our bills and our monthly Social Security checks stays strong.”
First introduced in 1975, COLA is determined by data from July, August and September of each year. COLA in 2023 was increased to 3.2%, which increased social security benefits by $50 per month, al.com reported.
The AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Alliance for Retired Americans endorsed Gallego’s bill. In the Senate, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn., has introduced companion legislation cosponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Peter Welch, D-VT; and John Fetterman, D-Penn.
This news comes after the Senior Citizens League, the nation’s largest nonpartisan senior advocacy group, increased its prediction for COLA in 2025 to 2.6%, up from 1.75% last month, according to a statement from the organization.
The increase is due to the rise in the consumer price index, a measurement of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of goods and services, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.