Social Security COLA Could Top 3% in 2019

The League reports that from January 2017 to January 2018, the costs of home heating oil has jumped 22% for people over 65, while the cost of Medigap premiums have spiked 16%.

The League’s annual survey of more than 1,130 retirees, conducted between January and March of 2018, found that household spending rose by more than $79 per month in 2017 for 55% of survey participants.

The House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee plans to hold a hearing Thursday to examine Social Security’s solvency, and will focus on findings of the 2018 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds, which is due out this week.

The committee noted in announcing the hearing the 2017 Trustees Report, which found that Social Security’s combined trust funds will be exhausted in 2034, at which point beneficiaries would face a 23% across-the-board benefit cut unless Congress acts.

The trustees estimated that, if no action is taken, the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund would be unable to pay full benefits in 2028.

The trustees also noted that the gap between Social Security’s costs and revenues over the next 75 years is equal to $12.5 trillion, up from $11.4 trillion in 2016.

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