{"id":217807,"date":"2025-12-06T02:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/217807\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T02:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:10:13","slug":"social-security-increases-are-coming-soon-but-theres-a-catch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/217807\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Security increases are coming soon \u2014 but there\u2019s a catch"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the near 75 million Americans<\/a> depending on Social Security benefits to survive, the SSA\u2019s annual Cost of Living Adjustment serves as an important announcement to start planning their monthly budgets. <\/p>\n

Many Social Security recipients live on these benefits alone \u2014 and it\u2019s a fixed income.<\/p>\n

This means that as the cost of living goes up, beneficiaries are ultimately left at the mercy of COLA increases to help them stay afloat. <\/p>\n

Recently, the Social Security Administration confirmed a 2.8% cost\u2011of\u2011living adjustment for 2026<\/a> \u2014 a rate higher than analysts previously predicted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For 2026, there\u2019s a bit of good news: that lifeline is getting a small raise. <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s also a twist \u2014 rising health\u2011care costs could swallow much of it.<\/p>\n

A raise, but with limited impact<\/p>\n

Starting in January 2026, beneficiaries will see their benefits rise by 2.8%.<\/p>\n

That means the average monthly benefit \u2014 previously about $2,015 \u2014 will rise to roughly $2,071 for retired workers<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But many retirees and bipartisan groups like the Senior Citizens League<\/a>, argue the $56 a month increase is simply not enough to help SSA beneficiaries adapt to inflation. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2026 COLA is going to hurt for seniors,\u201d TSCL Executive Director Shannon Benton said of the increase<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cYear after year, they warn that Social Security\u2019s meager increases won\u2019t be enough, and the Census Bureau estimates<\/a> that about 10 percent of retirement-age Americans live in poverty.\u201c<\/p>\n

Benton said the League\u2019s research actually suggests that the number may be higher. <\/p>\n

Healthcare costs will offset the 2026 increase<\/p>\n

While Social Security checks are increasing, so are healthcare costs \u2014 including the standard monthly premium for Medicare \u2014 a widely used health insurance for people 65 or older.<\/p>\n

In 2026, the standard premium for Medicare Part B will rise from $185 per month to $202.90 \u2014 nearly $18.<\/a> <\/p>\n

But the Part B deductible, which is what you pay before benefits kick in, will also increase by $26. <\/p>\n

Medicare premiums are typically deducted automatically from Social Security checks, which means the majority of the extra money from COLA will be largely offset by increased health\u2011care costs. <\/p>\n

The Medicare increases in 2026 represent a near 10% jump \u2014 one of the largest single-year dollar increases in the program\u2019s history, according to CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, experts suggest<\/a> that the bump many expect in their \u201ctake\u2011home\u201d after deductions could be much smaller \u2014 or even zero, depending on income and circumstances. <\/p>\n

According to Investopedia<\/a>, what looked like a \u201dmonthly boost,\u201d in COLA will shrink to about $39 after accounting for changes in the standard monthly premium.<\/p>\n

Can anything be done? <\/p>\n

The Social Security COLA is determined by inflation and wage growth, measured by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. The theory is that as everyday prices rise for groceries, utilities, and gas, Social Security benefits should \u2014 ideally \u2014 move up enough to keep pace, helping retirees and vulnerable Americans avoid falling behind.<\/p>\n

But advocates argue this method is flawed, suggesting a different index that tailors more towards beneficiaries and their expenses may make more sense. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne straightforward option for reforming Social Security COLAs would be calculating them with the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) instead of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), which is the government\u2019s current measure for calculating COLAs,\u201d Benton said<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe CPI-E is specifically designed to represent older Americans\u2019 spending habits. As a recent TSCL analysis shows, it tends to come in higher than the CPI-W about 69 percent of the time, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost benefits for seniors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the near 75 million Americans depending on Social Security benefits to survive, the SSA\u2019s annual Cost of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[79,3731,24046,6567,6046,179,18,233,19,185,17,227,66910,49129,234,235,7222],"class_list":{"0":"post-217807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-cash","10":"tag-cashless","11":"tag-credit","12":"tag-debt","13":"tag-economy","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-employment","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-inflation","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-jobs","20":"tag-living-wage","21":"tag-minimum-wage","22":"tag-personal-finance","23":"tag-personalfinance","24":"tag-usd"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115670196069236223","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}