These are payments in addition to Social Security that you can request in 2025

In the United States, around one in ten seniors live in poverty.

Social Security was established in the 1940s as a program to prevent seniors from falling into poverty when they retired. When FDR signed the bill creating the Social Security Administration, more than half of all older Americans were living in poverty.

While the program has been a major success in alleviating poverty, the high inflation rate over the last few years has made life difficult for the forty percent of beneficiaries who do not have additional retirement income, such as a pension or a 401(k).

The impact of the decrease in purchasing power among retirees

The Senior Citizens League, a senior rights organization, traces this financial hardship back even further and casts light on how the formula used to calculate the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, placed retirees in a vulnerable position. The SSA uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) to determine the annual COLA, and the organization does not believe the measure adequately accounts for the unique spending patterns of seniors. For instance, older Americans spend more on healthcare than younger generations, and though an increasing number do not own their homes, they tend to spend less on housing than the rest of the population. A report from the SCL in 2023 revealed that Social Security benefits have diminished in purchasing power by approximately 36 percent since 2000. To remedy this, Congress would need to increase benefits by roughly $516.70 (this amount would be higher now due to the passage of time) to restore them to their 2000 purchasing power level.

A group of legislators on Capitol Hill, including incoming Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego (D) and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I), have introduced bills that would establish a new consumer price index, the CPI for the Elderly (CPI-E), that would be used to calculate the COLA. The Bureau of Labor Statistics already releases data on an experimental version of the CPI-E, and if it had been used to calculate the COLA for 2025, the increase would have hit three percent.

Though there is growing support for changes to Social Security that would increase retiree benefit amounts, no promises have been made, leaving some to consider other financial support options.

A tool to see what you might be missing

Through an online tool created by the National Council on Aging, seniors can type in their zip code to see if there are any benefit programs they should enroll in based on their location and income. BenefitCheckUp is a great place to start if you are curious about what programs are out there and which you should look into further based on the results of your search.

Only 40 percent of eligible seniors are enrolled in SNAP

When it comes to cutting down on a household’s grocery bill, enrolling in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formally known as food stamps, is a great option for eligible people. The National Council on Aging encourages seniors to apply as around three in five older Americans eligible for the program are not receiving benefits.

Eligibility varies slightly from state to state, but most require household income to fall between 100 and 130 percent of the federal poverty line. The USDA advises those who think they are eligible to contact the state agency that administers the program, and they will be able to walk you through the application process. The state directory can be found on the USDA’s website.

Extra Help can reduce your medical expenses

Extra Help is a program designed for Medicare beneficiaries that helps reduce prescription drug costs. If you qualify for Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income, you’ll automatically qualify for Extra Help. If you’re enrolled in either program while preparing to receive Social Security, consider reaching out to your State Medical Assistance office.

To qualify, an individual must earn $22,590 or less annually and hold assets totaling less than $17,220. For married couples, the income limit is set at $30,660 per year, while the maximum value of their combined assets is $34,360.

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