2012 Retiree COLA Update                         Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics the national infla­tion rate is still trend­ing upward. Of course any­one who has been gro­cery shop­ping lately could tell you that, but, the BLS reports that the Con­sumer Price Index for April is up 0.8 per­cent over the March CPI, which bodes well for COLA in 2012.                                  This is impor­tant for mil­i­tary retirees, and those draw­ing VA ben­e­fits, because the CPI is the indi­ca­tor used to deter­mine the annual cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) and adjust­ments to VA Dis­abil­ity and Com­pen­sa­tion, Vets Pen­sion, and other VA rates for the fol­low­ing year.              Accord­ing to the Mil­i­tary Offi­cers Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­ica (MOAA) the April 2011 CPI is up 2.9% from the 2008 CPI. The 2008 CPI will be used to cal­cu­late the 2012 COLA since there has been no COLA since 2009.  This means that if the trend con­tin­ues the COLA for 2012 could be quite sub­stan­tial. This will also mean an increase in VA Com­pen­sa­tion and Pen­sion pro­grams as well as social secu­rity rates.                                    NOTE: The COLA referred to here is the annual cost-of-living-adjustment for retirees. It is not the same as the Cost-of-Living-Allowance for active duty.                                               For questions about progam please contact your Veteran Service Officer (VSO).

Sign-Up for our FREE Veteran Newsletters and FREE Veteran Alerts. Full name:  * required Email address:  * required Comments: I agree to receive FREE veteran newsletters and alerts. Yes No