(NEXSTAR) \u2013 If their current projections are right, next year\u2019s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for senior citizens receiving Social Security benefits could be cause for \u201cworry,\u201d according to The Senior Citizens League.<\/p>\n
The Senior Citizen\u2019s League (TSCL), a nonpartisan organization aiming to educate older Americans about laws, rights and financial issues facing their demographic, predicted this week that 2027\u2019s COLA would amount to a 2.8% increase \u2014 the same as 2026\u2019s, which TSCL had called \u201cmeager\u201d upon its announcement in November 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmericans are right to worry about our current COLA projection. The fact is that most senior households already get by on only about 58% as much income as their working-age counterparts, and you\u2019d be hard-pressed to find a middle-class or working-class American who thinks the economy is doing well right now, especially as oil prices rise,\u201d Shannon Benton, the executive director of TSCL, was quoted as saying in a recent press release.<\/a><\/p>\n Social Security: What is the maximum monthly benefit a retiree can get? <\/a><\/p>\n TSCL bases its projections on the same metrics used by the Social Security Administration to calculate the annual COLA for retired beneficiaries. But the group has long argued that this data (i.e., the Bureau of Labor Statistics\u2019 Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners, which itself is a measure of the change in prices for common consumer goods and services) does not take into account the costs that elderly Americans are paying for things like medicine, housing and groceries.<\/p>\n In November 2026, when the current year\u2019s COLA was announced, TSCL pointed to a survey of seniors that found only 10%<\/a> to be satisfied with their monthly benefits, \u201cwith many citing COLAs that lag inflation as a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n The group has also pushed for Congress to overhaul its method for calculating COLAs, favoring a system based not on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners, but the\u00a0Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E)<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which is \u201cspecifically based on the spending patterns of Americans 62 years of age and older,\u201d the Bureau of Labor Statistics says. Alternately, the group has voiced interest in a system they call \u201cCPI Best,\u201d which means basing each year\u2019s COLA increase on the highest of three options: the CPI-W, the CPI-E, or a minimum increase of 3%.<\/a><\/p>\n TSCL fears seniors may soon be contending with another benefit limit, too: a proposed \u201ccap\u201d on the benefit amount that retirees are able to collect.<\/p>\n In March, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit think-tank in D.C., proposed the idea of a \u201csix figure limit\u201d<\/a> for couples receiving SSA retirement benefits. And while that limit would only affect the \u201cvery highest income couples\u201d as of 2026, an increasing percentage of retirees would be limited by the cap in future years.<\/p>\n \u201cOne issue with the Six Figure Limit plan is that it does not guarantee that its new cap on Social Security benefits would increase over time as the economy grows or might freeze the cap for up to 30 years before allowing it to grow,\u201d TSCL wrote in its release.<\/p>\n