Breaking News: Social Security Administration Announces 5.9% Benefit Increase for 2022

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October 13, 2021

Today, the Social Security Administration announced in a press release that approximately seventy million Americans who receive Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will receive a cost-of-living adjustment (“COLA”) seeing an increase in their benefits of 5.9% in 2022.

Sixty-four million Social Security beneficiaries will see their 5.9% COLA increase in January 2022. Eight million SSI beneficiaries will see their benefits increase begin on December 30, 2021. (Please be advised that some individuals receive both Social Security and SSI benefits). According to the Social Security Act, the annual COLA increase is tied to the Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Another adjustment that will take effect in January 2022 is that the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $147,000 from $142,800.

If you are a Social Security and/or SSI beneficiary you should be notified by mail starting in early December 2021 about your new benefit amount for 2022. Most people who receive Social Security payments are able to view their COLA notice online through their personal my Social Security account. If you do not have an online my Social Security account, you may choose to create an account online at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount.

Information about Medicare changes for 2022 have not been announced to date. However, when announced, they should be available at www.medicare.gov. If you are a Social Security beneficiary receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute your new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2022 are announced. In December 2021, final 2022 benefit amounts should be communicated to beneficiaries through the mailed COLA notice and my Social Security’s online Message Center.

For more information showing the effect of the various automatic adjustments please reference this link for the Social Security Administrations fact sheet.

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