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Congressman Garamendi Introduces CPI-E Act.Coming Months Could be the Roughest Yet.Ancillary services, such as anesthesiology, radiology, and laboratory services, from an out-of-network provider..Gradually, over 20 years, raise the Social Security payroll tax rate that workers and employers each pay from 6.2% of earnings to 7.2%. A worker earning ,000 a year would pay about 50 cents a week more each year, matched by the employer..and if your drug plan doesn't cover it, or drops coverage, you may want to go.I recently read that if retirees got higher cost-of-living-adjustments some low-income people would lose eligibility for Medicaid, food stamps, and other benefits. Would using a senior consumer price index to determine the annual raise really do this?.Eye exams, eye glasses, and contact lenses..Advisor editor Mary Johnson estimates that using the chained CPI would cut lifetime Social Security benefits by about 7% over 25 years. New retirees with an average benefit of ,100 in 2010 would receive about ,634 less over a 25-year retirement period. "The financial impact is deceptive, appearing small at first," says TSCL Executive Director, Shannon Benton, "But the cuts compound over time, growing deepest when seniors are the oldest and sickest. By the time seniors are in their late 80's or 90's, when they are most likely to have chronic health problems, monthly benefits would be about 5 lower using the chained CPI.".Natural disasters can affect the consumer price index by showing up as higher costs, particularly when gasoline supplies are disrupted, and large numbers of people are forced to evacuate needing shelter and food away from home. But Joe thinks that our government economists may be cooking the books in their methods of measuring price increases.