About the COLA!

cl8337817 · ‎10-21-2023

The case for a flat-rate COLA: Is it fair when the cost of living goes up the same for everyone that it only goes up by a percentage of a senior's income? Wouldn't it be fairer if COLAs were a flat rate?

GailL1 · ‎10-23-2023

For those who get an actual COLA, the % is the same for everybody or pretty much, I think there is a small difference in what federal employees get and there is some reason for it.

Like @fffred, I don’t understand what you are trying to say either

It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna

cl8337817 · ‎10-24-2023

Thanks for your comment, Gail. Absolutely, the percent is the same--and that's the problem, especially for those of us who are elder orphans. The average COLA this year is $55 per month. For me, I only get $34 per month. But my rent is going up $50 per month. If I received the average, I would be keeping abreast of inflation. Now that I've depleted/outlived all of my retirement resources and only have Social Security income to rely on, year over year, I fall deeper into poverty. Moreover, seniors are the fastest-growing segment of the population falling into homelessness. I believe a flat rate COLA would be fairer and might prevent some elder orphans from falling into homelessness.

fffred · ‎10-24-2023

Thank you for the explanation. I suppose that by "rate" (in "flat-rate") I was thinking that that already implied a percentage rate. But you're proposing a simple one-size-fits all cash amount that applies to everyone.

I feel your pain with budgeting and expenses and income and inflation. But somehow I don't think that a flat amount for all will get much traction.

fffred · ‎10-24-2023

@cl8337817

This might be a good place to comment on how this is handled outside the USA, at least in Canada. My wife has a number of older family members who live in Canada (they are citizens) and I am pretty familiar with their retirement benefits.

Canada has a public retirement system consisting of 3 branches:

CPP (Canada Pension Plan) - paid for by employee and employer and is pretty much comparable to our Social Security (though it costs less and is less generous)

OAS (Old Age Supplement) - paid for out of general Federal tax revenues and is need-based. The benefit amount varies based on your other income. There is a maximum benefit amount (and off-hand I don't recall if uber-high income people still get this max benefit or if they forfeit this somehow)

GIS (Guaranteed Income Supplement) - paid for out of general Federal tax revenues and also is need-based. The benefit gets progressively smaller as your other income increases. There is an income ceiling above which GIS is not entitled.

This three spoked benefit arrangement might be something for the US to consider. Especially the OAS. I suppose that SSI (Supplemental Security Income) in the US is actually equivalent to the Canadian GIS. So the US already has two of these spokes. I'm not certain how extensive SSI actually is in payouts.

In fact, you may want to research SSI to see if you quality for this benefit. It is administered by the Social Security Administration but is paid for out of general Federal income tax revenues and is an entirely separate program (administered by the SSA since they already have the expertise).

cl8337817 · ‎10-24-2023

Very interesting to learn about Canada's three-pronged approach to benefits.

To be eligible for SSI, I have to be willing to go on Medicaid. I haven't been willing to do that yet. But I may be forced into it. Every year I live, I fall further into poverty, but I am very far from the only one.

Thanks for the information and conversation!