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CLEVELAND (WJW) — Millions of Americans continue to feel the sting of inflation and soaring gas prices, and that includes retirees — and those who rely on Social Security.
In looking at recent Consumer Price Index data, the Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan group highlighting issues affecting older Americans, estimated that the 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) would be 2.8% (staying at the same percentage as last month’s prediction). An average benefits check would then go up by about $50, according to the TSCL, which they say isn’t enough.
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Social Security beneficiaries saw their monthly checks go up by 2.8% this year as well, with TSCL saying their estimation should give “Americans the right to worry.”
This comes as some lawmakers and organizations are trying to figure out ways to keep Social Security viable in the decades to come, with one proposal from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget looking at capping payments to $50,000 per beneficiary, or $100,000 per couple.
TSCL said most seniors they polled were against this idea of their benefits being cut.
“Seniors tell us over and over that their benefits don’t go as far as they used to, and many younger people worry if the program will have atrophied to a shadow of its former self by the time they reach retirement age, even as taxes on their wages cover today’s benefits,” TSCL director Shannon Benton said in the April report.
Although there have been discussions, congress has not made any significant moves to reform social security funding this year.
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The Social Security Administration does not officially announce COLA adjustments — which they base on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) data from July through September — for the year ahead until mid-October.
In the meantime, those affected just have to wait.
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