Does the government survey a senior market basket?
Surprisingly, yes. The government has surveyed the senior market basket for more than 18 years-starting in 1983. The government maintains an experimental unpublished “seniors only” Consumer Price Index (CPI) that surveys the market basket of persons over the age of 62. It’s called the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, or CPI-E. Among other things it gives greater importance or “weight” to the health care component, reflecting the greater share of income that seniors must spend on health care.
