Social Security Recipients to Receive Modest Benefits Boost Next Year

After this year’s record-high Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 8.7 percent, retirees will receive a modest benefits boost for next year. This is largely due to the government’s efforts to rein in inflation. After months of speculation and anticipation, the Social Security Administration announced that its 2024 COLA will be 3.2 percent. On average, that should provide retirees with an extra $50 per month.

While we are all thankful for any COLA, it could be more. The Seniors Trust supports the Social Security Expansion Act, which calls for using the use the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, or the CPI-E, to calculate the annual COLA, rather than the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or the CPI-W, currently used. The CPI-E specifically tracks the spending of households with people aged 62 and older. It places greater value on rising costs of expenses unique to seniors such as housing, healthcare and medicine. This would provide a much fairer cost-of-living adjustment for retirees.