By Anna Gustafson
Queens legislators slammed the federal government last Thursday over a plan to deny Social Security recipients cost-of-living adjustments in 2010 and 2011, saying the move will worsen the lives of seniors already hard hit by increases in rent and food prices.
U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills), state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and state Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn (D-Flushing) spoke to seniors at the Pomonok Senior Center in Fresh Meadows and called for a regional cost adjustment for Social Security payments that would increase the amount of federal aid New York residents receive.
“To say that the costs for seniors will not go up for two years is to pretend that the laws of economic gravity don’t apply to older people,” Weiner said. “Rent is up. Food prices are up. Bus and subway fares are up. Health care costs are up.”
The Obama administration and the Congressional Budget Office have said seniors may not receive an increase in their Social Security checks because of the recession. This, the legislators said, would prove disastrous for many seniors living on a fixed income, especially since older residents signing leases in rent-controlled apartments were hit with a 6 percent increase this year and food prices in the city area have gone up by 1.4 percent over the past year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Additionally, premiums for the Medicare prescription drug plans will increase 7 percent from an average monthly premium of $28 in 2009 to $30 in 2010.
“Social Security absolutely must accommodate for these increases because the people who depend on it often have no other means of support,” Stavisky said. “The cost-of-living adjustment is meant to bridge the financial gap between last year’s and the current year’s costs and not including it in the budget means that thousands of senior citizens will not be able to cross that gap.”
Weiner is the lead sponsor of the COLA Fairness Act, which would change the way payments are given to seniors and would take into account the cost of living in an area when issuing Social Security checks. If enacted, New York’s seniors would receive an additional 2.1 percent in Social Security benefits over a five-year time period.
Pomonok Senior Social Club President Diana Metasky said should the monthly benefit checks remain flat, many seniors may not be able to pay for some medical prescriptions or even food.
“They could end up on the street because their rent becomes unaffordable,” said Metasky, a Fresh Meadows resident.
Mayersohn agreed and called Social Security a “lifeline.”
Seniors “have spent their lives working to uphold our nation’s values and caring for them now should be our No. 1 priority,” Mayersohn said. “Inflation may not be rising, but to pretend that the expenses of daily life are not is naive. Seniors should not have to choose between eating and paying their rent.”
Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 174.
