The following is a text of a letter that I have been sending to members of Congress. It concerns the Cost of Living Allowance for persons on Social Security. If you agree with my letter, please send to your Congress men and women. Their are two bills on the floor to change the way the COLA is calculated. Those on SS income should ask their Congress people to vote yes to change the way the COLA is calculated.

The CBO has issued a 2009 COLA estimate forecast for Social Security
recipients to be 2.8%.

With rising energy and food costs, this estimate forecast will leave most
seniors out in the cold, who can live on a $28 a year increase in fixed
income?

Despite the increase, at least five million people aged 65 and over will
remain in poverty, since senior costs are rising significantly faster than
the annual Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment.

Between 2001 and 2008, Medicare Part B premiums have soared by more than
93 percent while the COLA has crept up just 19 percent, leaving many
seniors on their own to cover all other rising costs. Part B premiums
cover doctors' visits, tests, and outpatient hospital care.

People 65 and over have lost 40 percent of their buying power since 2000.

The government currently calculates the COLA based on the CPI for Urban
Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), a slow-rising index that tracks
the spending habits of younger workers who don't spend as much of their
income on health expenditures.

However, the government also tracks the spending patterns of older
Americans with the CPI for Elderly Consumers, or CPI-E. By tying the
annual increase in the COLA to the CPI-E, seniors would see much needed
relief in their monthly checks.

I ask you to please change the way the COLA is calculated from the CPI-W
to the CPI-E and let all Social Security recipients have a fair shake in
these troubled economic times.

Please make this issue a priority.
Thank you for your service to all Americans.

Two bills have been introduced in Congress and they are H.R. 2032 and H.R. 1953, please contact your congressman or woman and ask them to support these bills.

Dear Gone4Good,

In 2008 my increase insurance actually lowered my monthly income. My husband worked all his life and contributed and never collected a dime. I also worked a good part of my life and paid toward SS. Makes me wonder how they can be such a mess. What I have realized is that even though I am only one, now, and receive only my husband's earned SS, the cost of living is not cut in half when a spouse dies.

I appreciate your doing the work. I have copied your letter and will send it to my representatives. Thank you. No one ever said life was fair, but sometimes things lean toward ridiculous. Again, thanks for your effort. Consider my letters sent.