There hasn’t been a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for Social Security recipients since 2009. The government is projecting a small COLA for 2012, but a spike in Medicare premiums that are withheld by the Social Security Administration is expected to erase the 1.2 percent increase.

The Medicare rate hike would affect about 45 million Americans who receive Social Security and Medicare Part B, which covers doctor visits and other outpatient services. About 2 million Ohioans who receive an average monthly check of $1,067.86 would see their Medicare premiums rise, including Centerville resident Leonard Koogler, 85. See story from Dayton Daily News here:

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From the Wall Street Journal:

Thanks to low average inflation nationwide, for the second year in a row retired Americans’ Social Security checks in 2011 won’t include a cost-of-living increase. But even though the inflation rate has been low for about two years, older people are paying more for a variety of items.

For instance, people age 65 and up said their household spent about $4,900 on food in 2009, the most recent data available, up almost 9% from $4,515 in 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey, which asks households what they spend on various goods and services.

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U S News and World Report reports that Social Security will not continue to pay a Cost of Living (COLA) increase each year. This would be a profound change – read this with some skepticism. THe magazine says:

“Social Security payouts increased 5.8 percent this year. It was the largest cost-of-living increase in more than 25 years and increased the typical retiree’s check by approximately $63.

But don’t count on a boost in payments next year. A Congressional Budget Office report predicts that there will be no cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries in 2010 through 2012. Although it’s more difficult to make accurate calculations farther into the future, CBO also projects that, after 2012, future cost-of-living adjustments will be less than 2 percent until 2019.

There has never been a year without a cost-of-living increase since annual adjustments began in 1975. Past adjustments have ranged from a whopping 14.3 percent boost in 1980 to just 1.3 percent in both 1986 and 1998. Increases are tied to the consumer price index, a measure of the prices paid by urban consumers for goods and services.

Current Social Security recipients will get a small reprieve this year, though. Beneficiaries will recieve a one-time $250 payment in May 2009, due to a provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Read full story under this link:

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