Why Social Security recipients are losing their purchasing power
It’s certainly no secret to seniors who rely on Social Security that their purchasing power is declining fast, and a meager 0.3% COLA increase which was consumed by rising Medicare premiums did nothing to help. In fact, rising medical costs have outpaced COLA increases for a long time, which hurts seniors especially hard due to the use of the CPI-W in the formula to calculate COLA increases. The CPI-W, is the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, but using it to determine COLA sure doesn’t take into account that the health and spending habits of workers are vastly different from that of seniors on Social Security. This article by Sean Williams at The Motley Fool discusses the number one reason why Social Security recipients are losing their purchasing power. Click here to read more.