Social Security Recipients Should Expect to See Only a Small Increase in January

LongIsland.com

Cost-of-living rises each day, but for Social Security recipients the benefits are expected make only a small increase come January.

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Social Security recipients hoping for a decent increase in benefits come January will be disappointed for another year.

Preliminary figures indicate there will be an increase of roughly 1.5 percent – the smallest increase since automatic increases were adopted in 1975, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

The average monthly Social Security benefit paid out is $1,162, and with an increase of only 1.5 percent, that would mean only an extra $17 per month.

The benefits increase is based on consumer prices, which include food, housing, clothing, transportation, energy, medical care, recreation and education. Because there has been only a small increase on consumer prices, the benefits increase is expected to also be small.

On average, Social Security raised 4.1 percent annually. For this year, the raise was 1.7 percent and next year’s raise of less than 2 percent is going to create a struggle for many recipients, according to advocates for seniors who claim the government’s measure of inflation does not accurately reflect price increases they typically face – mostly in the area of health care.

The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is typically announced in October, and was supposed to happen on Wednesday, but with the partial government shutdown the report has been delayed. Even with the COLA not officially announced yet, estimates are that it will fall roughly around 1.5 percent.

While the government is shutdown, Social Security benefits continue to be disbursed at this time.

[Source: Associated Press]