I am writing to express my deep disappointment that there will not be a cost-of-living increase for Social Security beneficiaries in 2016.

As health care costs continue to rise, the strain on seniors, like me, is becoming unmanageable, especially as previous cost-of-living increases have failed to keep pace with living expenses.

This is a disastrous decision for the people who only have Social Security as their retirement income, but it’s even more disastrous for women. So many parts of our economy are rigged against women, and our retirement system is no different.

Since there is still a gender pay gap, senior women already have smaller retirement incomes, because they make less over the course of their lifetimes than their male counterparts.

In addition to Social Security retirement income being smaller, women tend to live longer than men, so they have to stretch retirement dollars further.

In addition to health care costs that go up every year, as a female senior I have to pay the increased cost of food, clothing, utilities and heating. So no cost-of-living increase for Social Security will make my daily living situation difficult: Do I eat less to keep my house warm, or walk around in the dark in order to have enough to eat?

Congress should stand with seniors and women like me and act now to ensure that Social Security benefits keep up with the increasing cost of living. Women like me are counting on it.

Jacqueline Edwards

Raymond