美国社会保障署宣布，2025年退休人员的社会保障金将增加2.7%，相当于每月平均增加50多美元。然而，即使在宣布之前，退休人员就表达了对涨幅不足以抵消生活成本上涨的担忧。佛罗里达州彭萨科拉市的82岁退休人员谢丽·迈尔斯表示，她现在希望在沃尔玛找到一份小时工，以帮助维持生计。她还表示，由于食品价格过高，她不得不精挑细选购买食物，甚至麦当劳对她来说都太贵了。2024年，退休人员的社会保障金增加了3.2%，此前2023年经历了创纪录的8.7%的涨幅，这是由于40年来最高的通货膨胀率造成的。2025年较小的涨幅反映了通货膨胀的缓和。社会保障署署长马丁·奥马利表示，即将到来的涨幅将为领取者提供一定程度的缓解，因为通货膨胀已经降温，而该机构正在为创纪录数量的退休人员提供服务，同时资金处于历史低点。对于那些认为调整幅度不够的人，他表示“他们并没有错”。他承认，老年人在晚年需要将钱花在各种不同的成本和开支上，包括处方药。他表示，拜登-哈里斯政府推进的政策应该会导致许多人看到处方药价格下降。

🎉 2025年社会保障金涨幅为2.7%，平均每月增加50多美元，但退休人员表示涨幅不足以抵消生活成本上涨。

📈 2023年社会保障金涨幅为8.7%，这是由于40年来最高的通货膨胀率造成的。2025年较小的涨幅反映了通货膨胀的缓和。

💊 社会保障署署长马丁·奥马利表示，即将到来的涨幅将为领取者提供一定程度的缓解，因为通货膨胀已经降温，而该机构正在为创纪录数量的退休人员提供服务，同时资金处于历史低点。他承认，老年人在晚年需要将钱花在各种不同的成本和开支上，包括处方药。他表示，拜登-哈里斯政府推进的政策应该会导致许多人看到处方药价格下降。

💰 社会保障计划面临着严重的财务短缺。根据5月份发布的年度社会保障和医疗保险受托人报告，该计划的信托基金将在2035年开始无法支付全部福利。如果信托基金枯竭，政府将只能支付计划福利的83%。

🗳️ 民主党总统候选人卡玛拉·哈里斯表示，她将通过“让亿万富翁和大公司支付他们应缴的税款，并利用这笔钱来长期保护和加强社会保障”来弥补短缺。共和党总统候选人唐纳德·特朗普表示，“我们将通过增长来保护它。我不想做任何与提高年龄有关的事情。我不会那样做。如你所知，我在那里待了四年，从未想过要这样做。我不会对社会保障做任何改变。”

📊 奥马利表示，有人呼吁社会保障署使用不同的指数来计算生活成本增加，该指数根据老年人在医疗保健、食品和药品等方面的支出模式来衡量价格变化。目前，COLA是根据消费者价格指数计算的，消费者价格指数是一个消费者商品和服务的市场篮子。奥马利表示，倡导转变的立法者“正在推进一项非常合理的政策”。

The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees translates to an average increase of more than $50 for retirees every month, agency officials said.About 72.5 million people, including retirees, disabled people and children, get Social Security benefit.But even before the announcement, retirees voiced concern that the increase would not be enough to counter rising costs.Sherri Myers, an 82-year-old retiree from Pensacola City, Florida, is now hoping to get an hourly job at Walmart to help make ends meet.“I would like to eat good but I can’t. When I’m at the grocery store, I just walk past the vegetables because they are too expensive. I have to be very selective about what I eat — even McDonald’s is expensive,” she said.Recipients received a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, after a historically large 8.7% benefit increase in 2023, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation.The smaller increase for 2025 reflects moderating inflation.Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley told The Associated Press that the upcoming increase will provide a measure of relief for recipients as inflation has cooled and the agency serves a record number of retirees while funding is at a historic low.His message to those who feel that the adjustment is not enough: “They’re not wrong.””I’ve heard the stories and it is a struggle for seniors,” he said, adding that “in their older years, they have to spend their money on a different array of costs and expenses, including prescription drugs.”He said policies advanced by the Biden-Harris administration should result in many people seeing lower prescription drug costs.The agency will begin notifying recipients about their new benefit amount by mail starting in early December. Adjusted payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income will begin on December 31.The program is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers and that is slated to increase to $176,100. The maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes was $168,600 for 2024, up from $160,200 in 2023.The announcement comes as the national social insurance plan faces a severe financial shortfall in the coming years.The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released in May said the program’s trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035. If the trust fund is depleted, the government will be able to pay only 83% of scheduled benefits, the report said.AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins said in a statement that “there is more we must do to ensure older Americans can continue to count on Social Security. AARP continues to call on Congress to take bipartisan action to strengthen Social Security and secure a long-term solution that Americans can rely on.”The presidential candidates, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, have presented dueling plans on how they would strengthen Social Security.AARP conducted interviews with both Harris and Trump in late August and asked how the candidates would protect the Social Security Trust Fund.Harris said she would make up for the shortfall by “making billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes and use that money to protect and strengthen Social Security for the long haul.”Trump said “we’ll protect it with growth. I don’t want to do anything having to do with increasing age. I won’t do that. As you know, I was there for four years and never even thought about doing it. I’m going to do nothing to Social Security.”O’Malley said there is a push for the Social Security Administration to use a different index to calculate the cost-of-living increase that measures price changes based on the spending patterns of older people on things such as health care, food and medicine costs.The COLA is now calculated according to the Consumer Price Index, a market basket of consumer goods and services. O’Malley said lawmakers who are advocating for a shift “are advancing a very sound policy.”