Interesting COLA info

[mickeyd]

Got this as part of an email from MOAA. Thought it was Interesting.

. Will there be a COLA increase in 2012? If so, how much will it be?
A. Barring some dramatic, unforeseen change, there should be a 2012 COLA of somewhere between 3.4% and 3.7% for Social Security, military retired pay, SBP, and VA disability compensation.
We won't know what the final COLA number will be until the September Consumer Price Index figure is released on October 19.
Retirees should see the COLA in their January 2012 checks.
Many members have asked if Congress might act to cut their COLA amount in 2012. We think it's likely Congress will seek some kind of COLA changes at some point in the months and years ahead as part of ongoing deficit-reduction efforts.

 

[BLS53]

The one that's usually mentioned, is using the "chained" CPI data in place of the CPI-W. Don't see how anything could be passed in time to affect the 2012 COLA though.

 

[justplainbll]

Got this as part of an email from MOAA. Thought it was Interesting.

Quite interesting, considering that many 'experts' are telling the public that inflation is not a problem.

 

[Independent]

Any amount of inflation is a "problem" for us because my non-COLA'd pension is an important part of our retirement plan.

However, when I retired in Aug 2006 I planned for an average inflation rate of 4.0%. In the 5 years since the average annual inflation rate has been 2.1%. (That's a blend of 3.2% for energy and 2.0% for everything else).

So far, I can't complain about inflation.

 

[W2R]

I retired in 2009, and we have had 2 years of no COLA since then. So, I am pretty excited about the possibility of getting a little FERS "diet-cola" for 2012 for the first time.

Still, I won't believe it until it hits the bank.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

I also am not counting my chickens before they are hatched. As I am retired military living in Hungary TRICARE for us is only the very poorly run and not great benefits package under TRICARE Overseas. So, at least I am not paying out of pocket directly for that. We do pay an annual deductible (per person) and then are reimbursed at 75% eventually. Average time to get a claim paid is over 3 months. The error rate is over 400% (multiple re-submissions all of which get more and more screwed up) so it is a lot of work to get this processed correctly and I spend hours on the phone trying to get it fixed. On the other hand, medical expenses in Hungary are exceptionally low and the quality of service is great. Not particularly fancy but it is good enough. I have friends who retired in the Philippines and they have horrible TRICARE stories so mine is relatively good as we do eventually get reimbursed. I am also not eligible for VA although that wouldn't be a benefit I could use here in Europe. All of my hostile fire was covert or not legal wars and not creditable so I blew off going through the VA when I retired in 1999. I was never injured in combat so I believed it was not an option for me. Anyway, I am more irked over the way inflation is calculated. I was in the US working last month and hadn't been grocery shopping in the US for a couple of years and was in shock over the prices. I thought Europe was having a problem as prices have gone up about 30% in the past year but it seems like it has been almost 100% in the US ( I have nothing to track it by but it seems a lot higher than when I left and I mean a LOT higher) but we are only getting 3.4% for inflation. What is up with that? Something isn't right with their calculations. I guess we are lucky as food here is 100% organic, fresh (no crazy South American grown stuff picked green and gas ripened), and a lot cheaper than in the US. Interesting as there aren't any illegal workers here so I wonder why prices are so much lower for far better quality food. So, I don't buy the argument that US farmers can't survive without illegal workers. There are also no government subsidies for farmers here.

 

[BLS53]

I also am not counting my chickens before they are hatched. As I am retired military living in Hungary TRICARE for us is only the very poorly run and not great benefits package under TRICARE Overseas. So, at least I am not paying out of pocket directly for that. We do pay an annual deductible (per person) and then are reimbursed at 75% eventually. Average time to get a claim paid is over 3 months. The error rate is over 400% (multiple re-submissions all of which get more and more screwed up) so it is a lot of work to get this processed correctly and I spend hours on the phone trying to get it fixed. On the other hand, medical expenses in Hungary are exceptionally low and the quality of service is great. Not particularly fancy but it is good enough. I have friends who retired in the Philippines and they have horrible TRICARE stories so mine is relatively good as we do eventually get reimbursed. I am also not eligible for VA although that wouldn't be a benefit I could use here in Europe. All of my hostile fire was covert or not legal wars and not creditable so I blew off going through the VA when I retired in 1999. I was never injured in combat so I believed it was not an option for me. Anyway, I am more irked over the way inflation is calculated. I was in the US working last month and hadn't been grocery shopping in the US for a couple of years and was in shock over the prices. I thought Europe was having a problem as prices have gone up about 30% in the past year but it seems like it has been almost 100% in the US ( I have nothing to track it by but it seems a lot higher than when I left and I mean a LOT higher) but we are only getting 3.4% for inflation. What is up with that? Something isn't right with their calculations. I guess we are lucky as food here is 100% organic, fresh (no crazy South American grown stuff picked green and gas ripened), and a lot cheaper than in the US. Interesting as there aren't any illegal workers here so I wonder why prices are so much lower for far better quality food. So, I don't buy the argument that US farmers can't survive without illegal workers. There are also no government subsidies for farmers here.

The 2012 COLA was announced on October 19th. It's 3.6%. This thread was started prior to that, and is no longer relevant.