Social Security Payments Slated to Stall as Medicare Drug Prices Go Up

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A short article from Stephen Ohlemacher that made the newspaper rounds yesterday points out how a recessed economy can wreak havoc on pensioners’ fortunes if mechanisms built into government health and retirement programs don’t match up.

For the first time since 1975 when cost of living adjustments started being applied to Social Security payments, those receiving benefits will find their pay-out frozen for the next two years. The law prohibits Social Security payments from going down, so you’d think that recipients would at least be holding steady. Not so.

Because there are cost increases scheduled for the drug prescription program that’s part of Medicare, Ohlemacher reports, retirees will find that they have to pay more for drugs while receiving the same Social Security benefits over the next couple of years.

Some advocacy groups are calling on Congress to make sure that Social Security cost of living adjustments are not frozen, pleading with Congress to make the change so that “Social Security beneficiaries receive a COLA so they do not suffer even more from the consequences of these unpredictable economic times.”