Name:	Mack -	Reply
Subject:	Love My New SS Check...
Date:	12/10/2017 5:49:01 PM

SS benefit went up 2% and the Medicare Deduction went up 21%. Net 19% backing up.

Wow! I just love those COLA calculations...

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Love My New SS Check...
Date:	12/10/2017 6:59:17 PM

Seems one gets penalized for trying to better their existence. My 2% hike ended up in a smaller check as well.

Name:	wix -	Reply
Subject:	Thank o-BAMMIEcare....
Date:	12/10/2017 7:09:56 PM

Somebody has to pay for the o-BAMMIEcare disaster......why not  us rich retirees!!

Name:	kuss -	Reply
Subject:	Love My New SS Check...
Date:	12/10/2017 9:59:36 PM

Well let's see; if the average SS check is $1,000.00 or about that, then 2% would raise it $20.00.  

Medicare runs about $105.-- a month and 19% increase = $19.95 or thereabouts.  

Seems the average bloke is a nickel ahead.  ;o}

Still not as good as the price increase of bacon!  

j.kuss

p.s. still looking for a sailor to crew my 15.5' Albacore on Cherokee Lake.  

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	In the Same Boat
Date:	12/11/2017 8:46:19 PM

My pension went up 2% and my health insurance went up by 12 percent - oh yes, and my drug plan is creating still another payment authorization, to allow them to make a decision to not pay for brand-name drugs.  I have nothing against generic, but I have two that I must take the brandname - one because there is no generic and the other because the generic doesn't work for me.  I read an article last night that said it is getting to the point where your medicine may be cheaper buying it yourself, vice through your drug plan.

I know that one tends to get a bit insulated when one works in Washington, but do these decision makers have any grip on the real world? I could plot on a graph how much food has gone up, and it isn't a matter of eating chicken, vice steak.  

Name:	Rich -	Reply
Subject:	In the Same Boat
Date:	12/12/2017 5:45:37 AM

The inflation numbers have been rigged for years for obvious reasons.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	In the Same Boat
Date:	12/12/2017 11:14:22 PM

The inflation numbers changes, and so does the formula for cost of living.  I have no faith in statistics and calculations.  Numbers can be manipulated in any way to show what you want.  My problem is this:  when I started my career, I was promised a pension that would be adjusted for cost of living (people who paid into SS had the same promise made to them).  That is not what any of us are getting.