This press release is being sent to all NARFE members.
COLA Announcement Renews Need for New Inflation
Formula
Alexandria, VA – Following the
Bureau of Labor Statistics announcement of a 1.7 percent cost-of-living
adjustment (COLA) for 2015, Joseph A. Beaudoin, president of the National
Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), released the
following statement on the impact to federal civilian retirement annuities and
Social Security benefits:
"News of the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for the coming
year always is eagerly awaited by the countless Americans who rely on the
increase to keep up with the rising price of food, housing, transportation and
medical care. However, despite the partial relief this 1.7 percent COLA will
provide, the announcement is a reminder that our method for calculating the
increasing cost of goods and services is out of sync with the reality faced by
millions of federal annuitants, Social Security recipients and military
retirees, who spend more than twice as much on medical care than the
population measured by the current CPI-W formula.
“The average 3.8 percent increase in health
care premiums for federal employees and retirees in 2015 shows that medical
costs continue to outpace the COLA as it is calculated presently. We need a
cost-of-living formula that doesn't force these Americans to take one step
forward, then two steps back.
"As members of Congress and the President
develop their budget proposals for fiscal year 2016, I urge them to include a
switch to the CPI-E formula, a more accurate measure of inflation that
accounts for health care and other costs facing seniors.
"Conversely, they should reject previous
proposals to switch to the Chained CPI, which would only make a bad situation
worse by further decreasing the hard-earned benefits of Social Security
recipients and federal retirees, while increasing taxes on lower- and
middle-income taxpayers.”
This message is generated by the NARFE Global Email Messaging System (GEMS). Please do not reply to this message. If you wish to reply to this message, please compose a new message to the sender. To stop receiving messages from National Headquarters, such as legislative Hotlines, press releases, retirement benefit news, and/or your local federation newsletters and information, please go to www.narfe.org, and update your record by selecting the type of messages you would like to receive.
No comments:
Post a Comment