By Matt Durr
mlive.com
(TNS)
Seniors who depend on Social Security are calling for catchup payments on the heels of the latest forecast for the annual cost-of-living-adjustment. On Tuesday, the nonpartisan senior advocacy group The Senior Citizens League released its latest 2026 COLA forecast, which anticipates a 2.6% increase.
While that would represent a .1% increase over the 2025 COLA, the group says seniors are calling for a catchup payment and a change to how the COLA is calculated.
- Related article: SSA Issues 2.5% COLA Increase For 2025
“TSCL’s research shows that 93 percent of American seniors see Social Security and Medicare reform as a high priority for Congress and the President,” said TSCL Executive Director Shannon Benton. “They’re calling on the administration to calculate COLAs with an index more representative of seniors’ experiences and provide a one-time catchup payment to make up for historic COLA shortfalls.”
Benton did not explain exactly how the catchup payment would work, or how much it would be worth. The idea comes as seniors face another year of minimal increases to the COLA while prices are increasing across the board.
Data released this month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that as of the end of June, inflation is up 2.7% year-over-year. That means the current COLA estimate would fall short of keeping up with inflation.
According to data from the Social Security Administration, the yearly COLAs has been relatively small over the last decade when compared to inflation. Outside of three years during the COVID-19 pandemic, the COLA has come in below the average yearly inflation of 3%. The yearly COLA have come in at:
- January 2016 — 0.0%
- January 2017 — 0.3%
- January 2018 — 2.0%
- January 2019 — 2.8%
- January 2020 — 1.6%
- January 2021 — 1.3%
- January 2022 — 5.9%
- January 2023 — 8.7%
- January 2024 — 3.2%
- January 2025 — 2.5%
A survey conducted by TSCL found that nearly 13% of seniors get by on less than $1,000 a month after taxes and deductions. The survey also found that 39% of beneficiaries depend on Social Security for their entire monthly income. Because the COLA is not rising alongside the inflation rate, many seniors are feeling the impact, TSCL says.
While the group praised the passing of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” the group also said more needs to be done.
“The Big Beautiful Bill is a good start on providing financial relief for American seniors. The next priority should be providing support for the estimated 7.3 million American seniors who are living on less than $1,000 per month, which is below the federal poverty line,” Benton said.
The Social Security Administration determines the COLA by using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W) for the months of July, August and September and comparing that to same time period from the year prior. The CPI-W is calculated by analyzing the spending habits of Americans when it comes to items like food, consumer goods, housing, health care and more.
While Benton said seniors are asking for the COLA to be calculated with a different index, she did not elaborate on how the change would work.
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I have NEVER SEEN A TRUE cola increase that kept up with the expenses! July 24 2025 at 10:11 am
Why does SS continue to screw seniors on their SS payments? What older seniors actually come away with after the bullshit cola raises is disgusting! No wonder more and more older seniors wind up on the streets! The government only see's their own wants and needs, screw everyone else (even if they contributed to this shit system for a lifetime!) can just suffer so the politicians can retire rich and lazy! I feel a catch-up is over due. Seniors in their 80's plus should be getting a substantial catch-up payment! Maybe only NONE citizens rate at the top of payments, and that would be a very sorry mess bordering on Congressional treason much like the communist countries our politicians pretend to dislike!! AE