2023: Largest SS COLA In 41 Years Expected As Well As Medicare Premium Cut

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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"Based on recent data on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, a bellwether for changes in prices for goods and services, "It is likely we're going to have a COLA closer to 8% than 3.8%," Social Security Administration chief actuary Stephen Goss said during a briefing last week, CNBC reported.
A May report from The Senior Citizens League predicts benefits could go up by as much as 8.6% in 2023, their biggest increase since 1981."
https://www.cnet.com/personal-finan...ney-next-year-here-is-how-much-you-could-get/

To further help our bottom lines, Medicare premiums are slated to be cut due to the over estimation of the cost for Alzheimer drugs.
"Medicare recipients will get a premium reduction — but not until next year — reflecting what Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Friday was an overestimate in costs of covering an expensive and controversial new Alzheimer's drug.

Becerra’s statement said the 2022 premium should be adjusted downward but legal and operational hurdles prevented officials from doing that in the middle of the year. He did not say how much the premium would be adjusted."
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/medicare-recipients-premium-cut-2023-85032114
 

Sounds good . Hope they don’t find some reason to tighten our purse strings again. I thought that big Medicare deduction hike in relation to the small increase overall was totally unjustified. Help for Alz would be great, but don’t make us gamble on it so far in advance. And fix their “operational hurdles “ while they are at it. We already live with enough operational hurdles that can’t be fixed.
 
Fuel is up 80%, food is up 18%, rental and housing prices are skyrocketing, and we are in the biggest inflation period in 40 years. Adding 8% to SS will hardly make a difference in most peoples budget.....but it will hasten the day when SS is no longer solvent. But, with another round of elections coming up, a rise in SS may make some think that Washington "gives a hoot".
 
helenbacque said:
Fact based or election hype? It's getting to be that time again.
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Since our COLAs have always been based on the CPI inflation rates and this year (used to determine next year's COLA) will be no different, our COLA should be in the 8% range, maybe a little higher, maybe a little lower. Right now the average for 2022 is 7.70%. I believe that if nothing else our Medicare premiums will not increase due to the Alzheimer drug adjustment. I doubt this has anything to do with it being an election year. @Bonnie @caroln @terry123
@Liberty @StarSong You're welcome, of course. I'm happy I could post about some good news for a change. :D
 
Fiat money. They can give away all they want. Maybe you didn't notice at the outset of THE SCAMDEMIC, but T.P. sheet to sheet has more value than our paper currency no matter what dollar amount is printed on said currency. In fact, our paper currency, again, regardless the dollar amount printed on it, truly is a poor substitute for T.P.---So I have been told.
 
I am not holding my breath! They always dance around a lot of words, but when it comes to agreeing on something...not so much!
 
Chueymorales said:
Fiat money. They can give away all they want. Maybe you didn't notice at the outset of THE SCAMDEMIC, but T.P. sheet to sheet has more value than our paper currency no matter what dollar amount is printed on said currency. In fact, our paper currency, again, regardless the dollar amount printed on it, truly is a poor substitute for T.P.---So I have been told.
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It's been "fiat money" since 1971, and yet it still continues to have purchasing power. If you honestly believe a TP sheet has more value than our currency, why not take a roll to the market and trade it for a basket of groceries?

Please report back on your experience. I've got a few dozen rolls of this valuable commodity in my bathrooms right now...
 
C.O.L.A. is based on CPI-W, not the headline CPI(U). CPI-W has been running higher than CPI(U). Jan.- 8.2%; Feb. - 8.6%; Mar. - 9.4%; Apr. - 8.9%; May - 9.3%.
The C.O.L.A. is based on 3rd Qtr. CPI-W average over previous year's 3rd Qtr. 2021 3rd Qtr. average was a reading of 268.421, with May's reading sitting at 288.022, or 7.3% above that 2021 3rd Qtr. Average. July, August and September's average will determine C.O.L.A. and we haven't gotten June's official CPI-W data.
The forecasts still suggest 8.7%~9.0% 3rd quarter average. Those numbers are derived from another big jump for June, peaking in July and then dropping thereafter. It's fun to speculate, but we won't know the official rate until October the 13th.
 
Harry Le Hermit said:
C.O.L.A. is based on CPI-W, not the headline CPI(U). CPI-W has been running higher than CPI(U). Jan.- 8.2%; Feb. - 8.6%; Mar. - 9.4%; Apr. - 8.9%; May - 9.3%.
The C.O.L.A. is based on 3rd Qtr. CPI-W average over previous year's 3rd Qtr. 2021 3rd Qtr. average was a reading of 268.421, with May's reading sitting at 288.022, or 7.3% above that 2021 3rd Qtr. Average. July, August and September's average will determine C.O.L.A. and we haven't gotten June's official CPI-W data.
The forecasts still suggest 8.7%~9.0% 3rd quarter average. Those numbers are derived from another big jump for June, peaking in July and then dropping thereafter. It's fun to speculate, but we won't know the official rate until October the 13th.
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And I'll be anxiously awaiting that date Harry. :D
 
OneEyedDiva said:
And I'll be anxiously awaiting that date Harry. :D
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We all will, but it doesn't take effect until January 2023, and it only brings us back to the theoretical purchasing power of the July ~ September timeframe, which does not recoup any loss of purchasing power for the previous 12 months.

As to Medicare premiums, we should be reminded the base premium in 2021 was $148.50 and the 2022 premium was forecast at $158 AND then the dementia drug pushed it to $170.10.

While I don't expect a rise in premiums for 2023, I do not expect much lowering of premium. Still that would be better than last year's 5.9% S.S. increase and having $21.60 being pulled away.
 
StarSong said:
It's been "fiat money" since 1971, and yet it still continues to have purchasing power. If you honestly believe a TP sheet has more value than our currency, why not take a roll to the market and trade it for a basket of groceries?

Please report back on your experience. I've got a few dozen rolls of this valuable commodity in my bathrooms right now...
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SS, apparently you missed my point. To keep it simple, our currency as NO real value, other than "good faith", therefore, to wit and heretofore, they can pump out all they want, which they are doing at an alarming rate with printing presses owned privately. And then inflation will cause that bunk paper to have even less "good faith value". What I honestly believe, since you asked, is that certain things do have real purchasing value, much more so than that worthless paper and our coinage is pretty worthless now too. If and when that fiat crap crashes, which it will, then those certain things I mention will have trade value.

Since you sound to trust the current system, I won't bore you with what I believe has real deal value.
 
The U.S. abandoned the "gold standard" in 1971, at which time the dollar no longer represented a certain amount of gold.

Ten years later, we began huge deficit spending.

On second thought, this belongs in a separate thread about the economy.
 
Chueymorales said:
SS, apparently you missed my point. To keep it simple, our currency as NO real value, other than "good faith", therefore, to wit and heretofore, they can pump out all they want, which they are doing at an alarming rate with printing presses owned privately. And. then inflation will cause that bunk paper to have even less "good faith value". What I honestly believe, since you asked, is that certain things do have real purchasing value, much more so than that worthless paper and our coinage is pretty worthless now too. If and when that fiat crap crashes, which it will, then those certain things I mention will have trade value.

Since you sound to trust the current system, I won't bore you with what I believe has real deal value.
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I didn't miss your point and am well aware of what fiat currency is. No need to explain. Our currency has no intrinsic value nor is it backed by gold or silver. And it hasn't been since 1971.

From a practical standpoint, there is only so much gold, silver, platinum, precious gems, valuable artwork, guns, bullets and whiskey one can afford to accumulate and safely store in anticipation of the crash you're suggesting. Not to mention safely use when others around might be starving but have plenty of guns and ammo themselves.

Beginning in 1964, when the US discontinued minting silver coins, my father believed the US dollar would crash a la Germany post WWI. He died in 2017 without that ever happening. Inflation, sure, but the US dollar becoming a valueless currency? Nope.

Certain fears occasionally keep me up at night. This isn't one of them.
 
SeniorBen said:
The U.S. abandoned the "gold standard" in 1971, at which time the dollar no longer represented a certain amount of gold.
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I think the proper term is "convertibility". The U.S. still has a gold standard at $42.2222 per troy ounce.

Currency is a medium of exchange and is no different than any other commodity.
 

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