Easier Said Than Done: Public Unconvinced That Medicaid Spending Should Be Cut .A 2.5% COLA would boost an average monthly benefit of about ,500 by an additional ,000 over the next ten years through 2030. An emergency 2.5% COLA would boost a monthly ,500 benefit by an extra .50 (0 per year) in 2021, but it would grow to an extra .30 per month by the end of ten years. Another way to think about this, if retirees do not receive a 2.5% COLA, that would be like loosing ,000 in Social Security income over the next ten years. .SSA Announces 2019 Social Security COLA of 2.8 Percent .However, others at Tuesday's hearing focused on the skyrocketing prescription drug costs for Medicare Part D beneficiaries. In his opening statement, Ranking Member Ron Wyden (OR) said, "The fact is, seniors are getting pounded by drug costs. And in my view, there is an enormous amount of work that has to be done to guarantee that seniors have affordable access to the medications they need." .Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact The Senior Citizens League at any time. .A U.S. federal judge has temporarily blocked President Obama's immigration program that defers deportation for almost 5 million illegal immigrants. Responding to a lawsuit filed by 26 states, the judge did not rule on the legality of immigration orders, but said there was sufficient merit to warrant a suspension of the new program while the case goes forward. .SSI is a federal program that provides monthly benefit payments to people age 65 or older, who are blind or have a disability and who have little or no income and resources. People who receive SSI are also eligible to receive food stamps and Medicaid. .Congress should allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices by tying U.S. prices to prices paid in other industrialized countries like Canada, Great Britain and Japan where prices are lower. — 85 percent support, 13 percent not sure, and only 2 percent opposed. .Based on the growth rate of the Consumer Price Index for Workers (CPI-W) over past 12 months, I'm projecting a COLA in the vicinity of 3.6% for 201But Congress may take action that would slow the growth of the COLA. Deficit reduction plans are likely to call for switching to the "chained" CPI, a move that TSCL feels would further undermine the purchasing power of benefits. The difference between the CPI-W and chained COLA has averaged about 0.3 percentage point since 2000, but that's not the case this year. In fact, if the switch were to affect the COLA payable in 2012, seniors would get a COLA of about 2.8% — a cut of more than 20%.