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The study examined the increase in costs of 39 key items between 2000 and January 201The items were chosen because they are typical of the costs of most Social Security recipients, and include expenditures like Medicare Part B premium, that are not measured by the index currently used to calculate the COLA. Of the 39 items analyzed, 26 increased faster than the COLA over the same period. "This study illustrates why Congress should enact legislation to provide a more fair and adequate COLA," says The Senior Citizens' Executive Director, Shannon Benton. "To put it in perspective, for every 0 worth of groceries a retiree household could afford in 2000, they can only buy worth today," Benton adds..It is possible there could also be another emergency spending bill or, as we reported above, even a full-blown stimulus to try and keep the economy going..In the new report from the CBO, estimates show that if the AHCA is adopted, 14 million individuals would likely lose their health insurance coverage next year. By 2026, that number would rise to 26 million. For low-income seniors between the ages of 50 and 64, the uninsured rate would more than double under the AHCA, from 12 percent to 30 percent. That's because premiums would jump by so much for older Americans by over 700 percent in many cases they would likely be priced out of the individual health insurance market..In April, more than 150 House lawmakers proposed a budget blueprint that would have reformed the Medicare program and cut Social Security benefits by adopting the "chained" CPI, eliminating the COLA for some seniors, and raising the eligibility age. Did you support this budget blueprint, and if so, why?.According to TSCL's 2021 study of typical retiree costs, the average Medicare recipient can expect to spend more than ,000 per month on healthcare costs this year. Considering that the average retiree benefit is just ,550 per month, that doesn't leave much wiggle room for everything else in a year of spiraling inflation. Paying for food gasoline, or home and auto insurance is more challenging this year than it has been in 13 years..Addressing the Part A shortfall will be particularly difficult and contentious for everyone. To bring greater solvency to the HI trust fund, lawmakers will be faced with the politically unpalatable choices of reducing Medicare spending, which could include requiring that Medicare recipients pay more for their coverage and increasing the tax revenues received by Medicare. Congress last addressed Medicare Part A finances in the 2010 Affordable Care Act which, among other things, required hospitals to become more efficient in their delivery of care, while requiring that higher income workers pay a higher Medicare payroll tax rate..This week, one new cosponsor Rep. Timothy Bishop signed on to Rep. Peter DeFazio's Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act. The cosponsor total for the bill is now up to thirty.."At the time of enactment, The Congressional Quarterly referred to this revenue change as 'taxing the benefits of high-income recipients'" says Johnson, citing the publication's summaries of major Social Security changes from 1983-198Social Security's archives state that "Congress intended that the taxation of benefits should not affect 'lower income' individuals." The revenues from the tax on Social Security benefits are credited to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds and provide a growing share of the programs' financing..Reducing the taxation of Social Security benefits by increasing the income thresholds that subject Social Security benefits, from ,000 for single filers and ,000 for joint returns, to ,000 and 0,000 respectively.