‘I’m down to eating ramen’: Social Security benefits aren’t keeping up with inflation

Until last year, Janet Albrecht could afford to eat roast beef sandwiches or tuna salad for lunch. But the widowed 78-year-old now has to skimp on her meals because her Social Security benefits haven’t kept up with the rising costs for food, housing and health care in recent years.

Until last year, Janet Albrecht could afford to eat roast beef sandwiches or tuna salad for lunch. But the widowed 78-year-old now has to skimp on her meals because her Social Security benefits haven’t kept up with the rising costs for food, housing and health care in recent years. A retired graphic designer, Albrecht estimates she’s paying $100 more a month at the supermarket than she was before inflation started skyrocketing in 2021. Her landlord increased the monthly rent by a total of $65 over the past two years, her utility bills are larger and some of the seven medications she takes daily after suffering a heart attack have gotten more expensive. She hasn’t had a haircut in more than a year, though she doesn’t like to wear her hair so long. “I’m down to eating ramen for lunch, which I never ate in my life until recently,” said Albrecht, an Indiana, Pennsylvania, resident, who relies primarily on $1,163 in monthly Social Security payments. “If it’s not marked down, I just don’t eat it. I haven’t eaten beef since I don’t know when. I can’t afford it.” Many other senior citizens are also feeling the inflation squeeze. Social Security benefits have lost 20% of their buying power since 2010, according to a recent analysis by The Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group. Those who retired that year would need a boost of $370 a month, or $4,440 a year, on average, to regain the lost value. Put another way, every $100 a household spent in 2010 would only purchase $80 today. Every January, Social Security recipients get an annual cost-of-living adjustment, known as a COLA, but the increases often don’t keep up with the actual rise in prices – hurting senior citizens, many of whom live on fixed incomes and depend heavily on their Social Security benefits. Eight of the last 15 adjustments have come in lower than inflation for that year.