Of a certain age...

Well, the bad news last week is there will be no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2016 for over 70 million Social Security recipients, disabled veterans, federal retirees and their survivors, and disabled poor.

The COLA is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), a broad measure of consumer prices produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPI-W measures price changes for food, housing, clothing, transportation, energy, medical care, recreation and education.

The COLA is calculated by comparing consumer prices in July, August and September each year with prices in the same three months from the previous year. If prices go up, benefits increase. If prices drop or stay flat, benefits stay the same. Due to falling gasoline prices that have been 90 cents lower than a year ago, there isn't much inflation anywhere, according to the government.

However, it seems like many of my monthly expenses continue to increase, like cable service, cell phone plan, and house, car and flood insurance rates. Every year, the premium for my supplemental healthcare policy, which pays for the 20 percent of medical expenses not covered by Medicare, increases. The cost of my Part D drug coverage policy also increases annually. As new medications are added to my drug regimen, there are more out-of-pocket copays, which also seem to increase.

This will be my eighth year of collecting Social Security and will be the third time in those eight years there is no increase in the monthly benefit. Those three years are the only times in the past 40 years that there have been no increases.

Congress enacted automatic increases for Social Security recipients in 1975, when inflation was high and there was pressure to regularly raise benefits. Since then, increases have averaged four percent a year. But in the past decade, the COLA has been that big only once.

The five times I did receive a small COLA, it basically covered the increase in my Medicare Part B premium for outpatient care. When that doesn't happen, a long-standing federal "hold harmless" law protects the majority of beneficiaries (70 percent) from having their Social Security payment reduced because of increased insurance premiums and no COLA.

However, there are 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries who do have to pay an increased premium that would otherwise be spread among the full 100 percent. Higher premiums (up $54) will be paid by 2.8 million new beneficiaries, and 1.6 million, whose premiums are not deducted from their Social Security payment. 3.1 million people with higher incomes, many of whom already pay higher premiums, could see large increases. For those with incomes above $214,000 a year, premiums next year could exceed $500 a month, up from about $335. States' budgets will also be impacted because they pay part of the Medicare premiums for about 10 million low-income beneficiaries.

There is pressure being brought to bear in Washington, D.C. urging Congress to protect all retirees from dramatic increases in Medicare costs. With the continual logjam in Congress, it seems unlikely they will be able to compromise or enact any legislation.

In the absence of legislative action, the White House could choose to do one of several things. It could authorize the big increase in Medicare premiums for the 30 percent (15 million). Or it could authorize the secretary of health and human services to take money from the Medicare contingency reserve, which acts as backup in case actual spending is higher than projected. Unfortunately, that fund is already lower than the level recommended by Medicare actuaries.

Whatever action is taken or not taken will be reflected in my first 2016 Social Security check, and I may have to amend my budget for the coming year.