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September 02, 2009 at 08:00 PM
According to a Reuters news article and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), “millions of seniors will receive smaller Social Security checks next year, and none of the 37 million seniors who receive Social Security will get an increase.” This news comes alongside another forecast from the CBO, one that indicates a zero COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) for 2011.
According to the article, 2010 would serve as a milestone for seniors as it would be the first time since the introduction of COLA in 1975 “that seniors would fail to get an increase. Since automatic raises were established, seniors have never failed to receive an annual increase of less than 1.3 percent.”
Sources indicate that the many of the cuts are the result of high prescription costs and drug plans — costs which many have deducted automatically from their Social Security checks.
Reuters states that “Almost 70 percent of beneficiaries depend on Social Security for 50 percent or more of their income. Social Security is the sole source of income for 15 percent of beneficiaries.”
