If that still doesn’t sound so bad, consider that even the current more generous CPI formula may systematically understate the inflation rate for seniors.

The federal government is scaling back data collection used to calculate the inflation rate because of staff shortages. Economists warn that could make for less accurate cost-of-living measures.

The SSA measures that inflation using the changes in the third-quarter averages of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from one year to the next.