Tag: CPI-W

The speculation seems to start earlier every year. I just got my first press call regarding the likely magnitude of Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2024. This automatic indexing of benefits to keep up with rising prices – always a wonderful feature of our Social Security program – has been particularly valuable over t…

The brief’s key findings are: How best to adjust Social Security benefits for inflation has been controversial. Critics argue that an experimental index for the elderly (the CPI-E) should replace the current broader index (the CPI-W). Historically, the CPI-E, which places more weight on health care costs, has risen faster than the CPI-W. But, over…