Medicare Benefit Costs and Social Security Cost of Living Adjustments; Health Care Reform Premiums Costly for America’s Senior Citizens

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Senior Citizens in America receiving social security payments have had to endure two years without cost of living adjustments. Now, just when word was beginning to spread regarding the governments plans to make adjustments based on cost of living expenses, breaking news regarding the rising cost of Medicare is threatening to nullify any financial gains. Current health care reform has been at the forefront of political debate in our nation and proposed reform options involve cutting funding and potentially increasing the out of pocket expense for those Americans that qualify for Medicare backed health care plans. If Medicare premiums increase more than the potential COLA for social security, many Americans will be in a more difficult financial position. Some analysts are predicting that the rising premium costs for Medicare will be a debilitating factor for our nation’s seniors. The nation’s recovery continues to move forward but the unemployment average is still above average and Americans, especially seniors, are still doing their best to recover from the recent recession in the United States. This will have a negative impact on Americans as it will be more difficult for those attempting to find employment to help pay off the discrepancies between the premiums and the COLAs. An additional element that will have a negative impact is inflation. The price of food and energy commodities is rising projected to rise further in 2011 and 2012. Currently, the projected increase for Social Security is around 1 percent. For many Americans, this will not be enough to pay for the higher health care premiums and the rising costs of food and gas. Author: Stephen Johnson

Medicare Benefit Costs and Social Security Cost of Living Adjustments; Health Care Reform Premiums Costly for America's Senior Citizens