The Social Security Trustee have forecast that your 2008 annual cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) could be as low as 1.4% putting it on track to be one of the lowest annual raises in the history of the program. For a senior with an average benefit, that means an increase of less than $15 per month. Does that seem fait when your true cost of living is rising far faster?

In the meantime, Congress has just cleared the way to accept a 2.7% annual salary increase – or $4,400. That’s more almost double what the average senior will get. At a time when congressional approval ratings are in the teens, most Americans agree that they don’t deserve a raise – especially when our seniors are struggling to make ends meet.

Contact your Members of Congress today and urge them to co-sponsor and support
H.R. 2032 and H.R. 1953.

American seniors deserve a fair and accurate COLA – one that actually keeps up with their true cost of living. The inaccurate formula used to calculate today’s’ COLA is costing seniors dearly – they are being underpaid over $1,100 annually. The average beneficiary has lost close to $15,000 since 1984 in COLA underpayments.

Click here to see the preliminary results of our
2007 Annual COLA Impact Survey.

We need to heap pressure on Congress to fix the COLA problem quickly. RetireSafe is supporting two pieces of legislation, both named the “The Consumer Price Index for the Elderly Act”, that would correct the problem. H.R. 2032, introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR) and H.R. 1953, introduced by Rep. Charles Gonzalez (TX) would require that the government use a consumer price index for the elderly (CPI-E) that would better mirror seniors’ actual cost of living in calculating annual COLAs.

There’s still time to participate in our COLA Impact Survey.
Click here to take our survey.