Policymakers have proposed changing the way Social Security's cost-of-living adjustment is calculated. They propose moving from the current calculation to a chained price index, which grows more slowly than the current method and would reduce spending on Social Security and other federally administered programs, like Supplemental Security Income and veterans pensions, according to the AARP Public Policy Institute in a recent issues paper.

The proposed changes would have a detrimental effect on the economic wellbeing of older and disabled Americans and their family members who receive the benefits from Social Security, the report contends.

As proposed, the small reductions to the annual COLA would accumulate over time so that the largest reduction in benefits would hit the oldest beneficiaries and the long-term disabled.