Social Security COLA fails to keep up with rising costs of essential products and services
Senior Citizens League lists the “dirty dozen” items important to seniors that have seen the largest percentage price increases.
The 1.3 percent cost of living increase that older Americans are receiving this month is not keeping pace with rising expenses, according to a nonpartisan advocacy group. This continues a trend in which Social Security benefits have lost 30 percent of their buying power over the past decade.
“This list is a snapshot of how COVID-19 affected prices of certain items through the end of November 2020,” said Mary Johnson, a Social Security policy analyst for the Senior Citizens League. “There are surprising price aberrations that we haven’t seen before. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that toilet paper and disinfecting wipes would wind up on our annual list of fastest-growing retiree costs.”
The consumer price index that the government uses to calculate the Social Security cost-of-livind adjustment or COLA represents the spending habits of younger urban wage earners and clerical workers, who comprise less than 30 percent of the population, she said.
The organization listed the “dirty dozen” items important to seniors that have seen the largest percentage price increases:
- Major appliances, 17 percent
- Beef roasts, 11 percent
- Used cars and trucks, 11 percent
- Pork chops, 10 percent
- Household paper products, 8 percent
- Health insurance, 7.5 percent
- Elderly care at home, 7 percent
- Poultry, 7 percent
- Tomatoes, 6.5 percent
- Canned tuna, 6 percent
- Milk, 5.5 percent
- Household cleaning products, 5.2 percent
Although medical costs often rise faster than COLA, emergency legislation last spring limited what providers could charge for many COVID-19 related services, and large numbers of patients postponed non-urgent care. Johnson is concerned that price squeezes could force may seniors to go without essential products or services.
“We encourage everyone to consider who you may know that might need help with food costs,” she said. “Perhaps you can drop off a few groceries (including protein sources such as meat, chicken, eggs, milk or canned beans) or share your next batch of homemade soups, chili or stews with others you know. Mercifully, this list of prices will likely change in time, especially as we get COVID-19 under control and people return to work.”
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