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Protecting Seniors’ Income
By Rep. Stephanie Herseth
Before I was elected to the House of Representatives, I made a promise to
thousands of seniors in South Dakota that if they would send me to
Washington, I would fight for them, stand by them, and make their voice
heard. On July 22, I introduced the “Social Security COLA Protection Act” to
help keep that promise by protecting the retirement income of nearly 100,000
South Dakotans from rising health care costs.
For retirees who depend on Social Security benefits to live, the only
defense against increasing prices for food, clothing and energy is an annual
cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. However, rising Medicare premiums are
diminishing the purchasing power of this yearly increase in benefits.
This fall, retirees are projected to face the largest Medicare premium
increase in the history of the program. This means that next year, a widow
with a $600 monthly Social Security check will use 59 percent of her COLA
just to pay the increase in her Medicare premium. Every dollar that goes
toward rising Medicare premiums is one less she can use to pay for groceries
or her utility bill.
We’re not wealthy in South Dakota – we clip coupons, we count nickels and
dimes, we put off buying the things we need. South Dakotans live modestly
because that is what they must do to get by. It is no exaggeration to say
that retirees in South Dakota need every penny of their COLA. Not just so
they can maintain a basic standard of living – but so they can live with
dignity.
My legislation protects retirees by ensuring that no more than 25 percent of
their COLA can be absorbed by the increase in Medicare premiums. Next year,
it would protect 100,000 South Dakotans who otherwise would see their scare
dollars taken from food, clothing and other essential purchases. In fact,
the widow I mentioned earlier would save $2,213 over 10 years. For those who
depend on Social Security to pay their bills, that is enough to buy new
clothes, extra medicine or just a plane ticket to visit the grandchildren.
I am proud that my legislation already has the support of nearly 80 members
of the House, and of prominent advocacy groups for seniors such as the
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the Alliance
for Retired Americans and Families USA. I hope that Congress will take up
and pass this legislation quickly, because the need for it is real and
immediate.
This fall, just as Medicare premiums go up, temperatures in South Dakota
will be going down. Seniors will sit at their kitchen tables, reading
through the bills, and they may wonder yet again how they are going to make
it through the month. We owe it to them to do better. I will work to see
that we will.
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