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Social Security — COLA Updates

Legislation enacted in 1973 provides for annual, automatic Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs), which are based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of one year to the third quarter of the next.   If there is no percentage increase, there is no COLA.
The 2009 Social Security Trustees Report projects that there will not be an automatic COLA this year or next for Social Security beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients.
However, the CPI-W is determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and the Social Security Administration will not have the data from BLS to determine if there will be an automatic COLA until mid-October, and so it is premature for us to be to be commenting or speculating at this time.
The attached Fact Sheet has been prepared by SSA's Office of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs in Washington, and it covers several different aspects of a possible "Un-COLA" scenario in 2009, including the impact on Medicare.
This Fact Sheet provides a broad overview of many of the issues before us, and you should feel free to share it with others in the network.   However, it is probably not really suitable as a hand-out for members of the general public.
Additional information can be found on our website:   www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/COLA/positivecola.html
As always, please give me a call with any questions on this or any other Social Security issue.
Kurt Czarnowski, Regional Communications Director
Social Security Administration, Room 1900, JFK Federal Building, Boston, MA 02203 — Phone: (617) 565-2881 — Fax: (617) 565-2143




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