Dear Editor:
Senior citizens can expect to see only a 2.8% Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) in 2026. This will not be enough for seniors struggling to pay monthly bills. The COLA will be the second lowest COLA since 2021 and only slightly higher than the 2025 COLA. Any increase in benefits surely helps. On average, retirees will receive about $52 more per month next year from Social Security. But because of the predictable hike in Medicare Part B premiums, nearly half of the COLA will be taken by that increase. Medicare Part B is projected to rise to $206 a month starting in January, $31 more than in 2025. This will be the first time the premium has exceeded $200.
Seniors on fixed incomes are rightly concerned that the Social Security COLA won’t keep up with inflation. Have you seen the price of beef lately? How about prescriptions, housing costs and everyday groceries? Instead of working to protect Social Security, too many members of Congress (ours) want to raise the retirement age, cut benefits and even privatize the program. Older Americans have earned these benefits through a lifetime of work. They are not entitlements, and we should not have to fight to keep them. Senior citizens should be aware of what our congressional representative and two U.S. senators are doing about this, and call their offices to let them know how their policies affect us, and remind them that we vote.
Kate Ellison
Melrose
