In what could be a sign that soaring inflation might not ease anytime soon, at least one group has already forecast that the 2023 cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security recipients could be as high as 7.6% — a much bigger bump than even this year’s, which is already the highest in decades.
By Vance Cariaga
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The 2023 COLA estimate comes from the Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan advocacy group. It bases its projection on the latest consumer price index data, CNBC reported.
But even that wouldn’t be enough to keep pace with an inflation rate that hit 7.9% in February. The inability of annual Social Security benefit increases to keep pace with inflation is a common complaint among senior advocates, many of whom say the COLA should be based on more than just CPI data.
“Surely there are many others like me who wonder how much higher Social Security benefits would be if our benefits were tied to the percentage of increase in Medicare Part B premiums instead of the consumer price index,” Johnson said at the time.
In any case, the Social Security Administration won’t determine the official COLA for 2023 until October, CNBC noted. The final figure depends on inflation, which remains a wild card. While inflation has been on the rise in recent months, the Federal Reserve hopes to tame it through a series of interest rate hikes in 2022.
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If inflation does trend lower, the 2023 COLA will likely be lower as well.
