An Increase in Social Security Benefits in 2017
Reading Time: 1 MinuteLast Updated: March 17, 2021
The annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) usually means an increase in the benefit amount people receive each month. By law, the monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) federal benefit rate increases when there is a rise in the cost of living. The government measures changes in the cost of living through the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index (CPI-W).
The CPI-W rose this year. When inflation increases, your cost of living also goes up. Prices for goods and services, on average, are a little more expensive. Since the CPI-W did rise, the law increases benefits to help offset inflation. As a result, monthly Social Security and SSI benefits for over 65 million Americans will increase 0.3 percent in 2017.
Other changes that would normally take effect based on changes in the national average wage index will begin in January 2017. For example, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax will increase to $127,200.
Information about Medicare changes for 2017, when announced, will be available at www.Medicare.gov. For some beneficiaries, their Social Security increase may be partially or completely offset by increases in Medicare premiums.
You can find more information about the 2017 COLA at www.socialsecurity.gov/cola. For changes in the national average wage index, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/COLA/AWI.html.
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Tags: Cost of living adjustment, Medicare, SSI
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Doug Walker, Deputy Commissioner, Communications
Deputy Commissioner, Office of Communications
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Elaine l.
0.3 is a joke! However, better something than nothing!
Richard
Negative. Medicare is getting the offset so we get ZERO!
AL H.
Every little bit helps. Thanks SS!
JMR
good then you be satisfied with it when there is nothing left and no increase
tammy
They could increase all the Social Security benefits 1000 percent and it still would not fix any of the root problems. There needs to be a complete reform of “Rules” which the socialist security system uses because some of these rules are discriminatory.
I am 45 years old, a mother of three older children and physically disabled ( I was born with cerebral palsy ). I’ve never collected one red cent of money from the Socialist Security System, even though I have applied several times and they find me disabled.
Technically, I am an “adult disabled child” (please look this up, it is NOT SSI or SSDI) but have never been able to secure any benefits whatsoever from the Socialist Security system, even under that program because I got married to an “Able bodied person”. The Socialist Security system is too busy paying benefits to some people who scam the system and worrying about adult disabled children (who they pay benefits to off of a parents record) marrying an able bodied person. This gives them the justification to cut off benefits to the adult disabled child because the husband (in theory) can now support the disabled person. This theory works great, if your husband is rich and you have no need for money but what it actually does, is to force two adults (one disabled one able bodied person) to live off of one income. In the real world, the socialist security system is forcing adult disabled children to only marry other disabled persons (and NO able bodied persons) at the threat of loosing any and all benefits that they are entitled to.
If you are a physically disabled person (an adult disabled child) and you happen to marry an “able bodied person” you will be loosing out on a lifetime of benefits, all because of a one word “rule” that prohibits you from marrying an “able bodied person”. Best of all, they never tell you about their “Rule” so that they can justify cutting off any benefits that you may be due.
Because you are physically disabled (adult disabled child) and you choose not to marry another adult disabled child or disabled person drawing off socialist security, you WILL LOOSE ANY AND ALL BENEFITS FOR LIFE. This means that the SOCIALIST SECURITY system is TELLING YOU WHO YOU ARE ALLOWED TO MARRY and who you are
NOT ALLOWED TO MARRY! It is a discriminatory act “rule” and should be ILLEGAL!
Even though I am permanently and totally disabled, if I marry an “able bodied person”, somehow that marriage makes everything ok and I am no longer considered disabled (in the eyes of the socialist security system). Magically (because I married an able bodied person), the pixie fairies come down and cure my disability, because now I can just go out and find gainful employment, no one will discriminate against my physical disability and everything will be grand, right? Somehow magically, marrying an able bodied person makes my physical disablility dissappear and now I am cured, right? WRONG!
The issue is a special “Rule” that the Socialist Security System uses to discriminate against “certain” people. If you are a “physically disabled person” (AKA-certain people) and happen to marry an able bodied person, then the SOCIALIST SECURITY system will use special “Rules” to legally discriminate against you and deny you benefits, even if you appeal online.
The SOCIALIST SECURITY system has caused me a lot of economic hardship all because I married an able bodied person. The SOCIALIST SECURITY system thinks someone who is physically disabled (permanently and totally disabled) marries an “able bodied person”, that somehow magically they are cured of their physical disability and two people can survive off the able bodied persons income. WOW, talk about a bunch of bureaucratic idiotic thinking, that somehow this would not cause a financial hardship….. amazing.
The rules that the Social Security Administration uses to legally discriminate against persons who are “Adult Disabled Children” who happen to marry an able bodied person, are discriminatory. This is loosely referred to as the “marriage penalty” but I call it exactly what it is, a legal form of discrimination.
I firmly believe this rule, is an act of bias, prejudice and discrimination against people who (by no fault of their own) are born disabled and happen to marry an able bodied person
Please write your Congressional Representative and tell them to end this modern day form of Legal Discrimination. In this day of fairness and equality, there are still some people suffering from an outdated and oppressive bureaucratic rule.
(PS. notice how the only thing any of these SOCIALIST SECURITY workers ever say are quotes of the rules or processes, like a worker drone. They are unable to address any topics that fall outside of their rule books). Typical bureaucracy and bureaucratic responses, like trying to argue over lost change with a vending machine!
Glenn
I do feel for you and your condition (same health issues here but my comments about that here will not help) but have you tried any local government services such as contacting your local rep for help? I don’t know which state your in but the rep closer to home may be more sympathetic. I doubt that anyone reading these posts have the power to help which makes it a waste of time.
Karen
I mean no disrespect, but if you were born with cerebral palsy, and are permanently and totally disabled, how did you go through three pregnancies and the demands of raising three children?
D
of course you meant disrespect
Karen
No D – I think I meant disgust. Obviously this lady never checked any price indices for the cost of raising a child from birth to majority age. I assume she has never worked and not paid one cent into SS . Why would you have 3 children to support knowing there is going to be only your husband’s income to support the family. I worked 59 years for my SS. She obviously can type and has some computer skills. There is a person in a wheel chair selling tickets in one of our local theaters who appears to have cerebral palsy.
tammy
This is more about pushing for a rule change, rather than about me. I have had odd jobs here and there, but nothing one could consider a career. Thanks again Karen for perpetuating the stigma that if someone is physically disabled, their mind should be as well.
Carole
This is why elderly people do not remarry. Some even divorce each other and live together. It’s awful for disabled people.
tammy
absolutely true carole! Its a ridiculous rule that needs to be eliminated forever.
Marc
Here we go again. You post this exact same nonsensical rant on nearly every one of these blogs, no matter what the topic may be. Your issue has nothing to do with the cost of living raise for Social Security recipients. Additionally, your gripe isn’t even a valid one. If you had ever bothered to read the rules or any information at all on this website you would know that you do not qualify for SSI as an “adult disabled child” when you get married precisely because when you married you’re NOT single anymore and all alone in the world,helpless, as many disabled adults would be. Where do you get the idea that the government – or anyone else, for that matter, guarantees that every family will have two incomes??? Lady, there are thousands of families struggling on one income and you’re posting these insane rants that make absolutely no sense and have no basis in reality because you think the government owes you and your husband a double income??? Boy, between you and the rest of these morons here who don’t know how to calculate fractions or decimals (it’s NOT.03 for every $1000, it’s for every 100! Where did you idiots go to school??? And .03 IS how you write THREE PERCENT in decimal form.
I agree that the cost of living has gone up in a major way,but your complaints are all completely off the mark because all of your information is WRONG, and that’s because none of you can be bothered to seek out the FACTS for yourselves!!! You are right here on the website, for crying out loud! EVERYTHING you could ever want to know about Social Security, the real truth from the original source, is RIGHT HERE!!! Until you know what you’re talking about, nothing is going to change, because your complaints are invalid. But hey, maybe it just makes some people feel better to blame somebody else. It’s the American way.
tammy
Hello again Marc, actually I do not need any income from the Government. From the way that I see them running things, it wont be long until the system is totally bankrupt. I know exactly what I am talking about and that is an outdated “Rule” that I feel is discriminatory. It has nothing to do with any money, I just think it is wrong to impose a rule that limits disabled people in their life choices. Disabled people have a hard enough time just living a normal life, why make it harder on them? I am not a moron obviously, I can put together a proper sentence and articulate my point ( a skill which I suggest you improve upon). My information is spot on when it comes to Social Security rules, I have been around this system long enough to know it from the inside out. Again, I am simply trying to spread the word about what I perceive as an outdated discriminatory rule that needs to be eliminated. Thank you for helping to spread the word and have a great day.
sharon j.
i only get 733 a month that goes in one day half on rent half on phone bill and screw foodstamps 20 dollars a month lol ill go eat at churches 3 times a day
DC
I agree it is wrong! You still can’t work..it’s wrong! We pay our congress way to much..what about us!? I’m likely going to lose my home. Can’t pay the taxes. Can’t pay the repairs and they keep slapping special assessments on my home! I can’t afford rent either..insurance was canceled because I couldn’t afford repairs! I am seriously nursing home bound! Going to end up costing government way more than if they would have helped me live in my own home!
Peter M.
Wow. You’re so negative and angry, maybe some counseling would help.
fermina p.
wao thank you that is awesome
al s.
they should have to live on ss themselves for a while and use medicare instead of their special health insurance that they gave themselves
Carole
Yes sir that’s it. See if they can live on what we make. My ex made in social security a $100 over what he can get in medicaid. For $100 too much he can not get medicaid.
Isabella
This is what happened to me! Seriously, I am bringing in $797 in SSDI, and less than $200 from a serious accident; this fund is less then what many make in a year!
What I want these politicians to fully recognize is that MOST of us who are incapable of working do NOT want to be sitting around with these disabling conditions, in such FEAR of our circumstances, for which we have no control! I under 55, and lost everything! Now, I must face how to survive daily!! And, for our beloved senior citizens who are left in turmoil, my heart is with all of you! Shame on this country; the status quo remains the same!
Jstar
Yes, I know what you mean. Medical is so high I cant have treatments because I cant meet the deductible. And the extra medical plans are so pricey we cant afford them either.
Peter M.
Yes, and now we have a President-elect and a Republican controlled House and Senate chomping at the bit to fulfill their promises of cutting back on Social Security and turning Medicare into a voucher program where we will have to shop around to find an insurance company willing to pay for our medical care — no doubt at astronomical prices.
Senior citizens living on Social Security punched themselves — and the rest of us — in the face by voting for the Republicans in this last election. 🙁
Sandy
Please don’t talk about Trump not caring about senior citizens, cutting back, etc. What has Obama done for you? Nothing! He sure hasn’t for me anyway. My social security has remained the same while the cost of everything has gone up. Trump on Social Security: “I will work with Congress to ensure we have a pro-growth agenda in place. If we are able to sustain growth rates in GDP that we had as a result of the Kennedy and Reagan tax reforms, we will be able to secure Social Security for the future. As our demography changes, a prudent administration would begin to examine what changes might be necessary for future generations. Our goal is to keep the promises made to Americans through our Social Security program.”
Hillary on Social Security: “I’m against any cut in Social Security benefits. But rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk.” And she wanted to increase Social Security benefits for widows. She told AARP that the poverty rate for widowed women 65 or older is nearly 90% higher than for other seniors. One reason, she noted: When a spouse dies, “families can face a steep benefit cut.” For a two-earner couple, the cuts can be as much as 50%. She also said she opposed reducing annual cost-of-living adjustments. Instead, she preferred INCREASING them.
***
It is COLA which is hurting me. As I said, my check has remained exactly the same (to the dollar) since I retired five years ago. It’s a scary way to live.
Ignacio C.
The measly increase of .3% seems out of sorts with the increase in the amount of earnings for which social security costs will be imposed. So, you collect more money for social security and you give measly increases. Why is that? How is the measly increase in social security benefits makes this process equitable.
Anna P.
It’s .03% cola. Makes a little difference,even smaller than u thought. Has anybody noticed Groceries or Medications costing Less ?
Nona P.
An 0.3 percent increase is NOT equivalent to the increase in the living expenses of citizens . Not by any means !
Rosemary
I agree.
Dee D.
Nicely put..
Jstar
And most of our incomes from Social Security not half of the poverty level posted. Yet Congress cant make it on 174,000 a year? Poor things, gonna give themselves another raise.
Anna P.
?????
Trish
Lets all put these commits to use send to AARP and let them send to all so call leaders. They are suppost to be for us
Judy
Aarp doesn’t do anything. Not giving them even a penny!
Richard
AARP ! are you kidding all they are interested in is selling seniors insurance… nothing more!
Sandy
No way would I ever have anything to do with AARP! It’s nothing but a racket. I finally got it to stop sending letters asking me to join so they could make money off of me. It like a union – you know who makes the money, right?!
dudley s.
Will the damn politicians ever get their heads on straight and look at the MAGNIFICANT !! increase of 0.3 % they’re giving us for 2017?
What a bunch of damn idiots !! What a blot on us Social Security recipients !!
JMR
Some increase, medicare is going to take it like they do every time we get and even when we DON’T get increases
Richard
an ignorant statement since congress does not compute the ss raises.
Gail A.
So my husband gets about 1500 in his monthly check, which means you will endow him with the princely sum of $4.50 more a month. Thanks a lot. It took more than that for whoever got paid to click “post” on this article.
Sally
AND don’t forget the increase in Medicare! That will probably take care of their generous raise plus take more of your monthly income. Nice. smh
Jstar
Yes, not counting the deductible and the doctors raising their fees.
carole d.
my insurance went up $20.00 and I now have to pay co pays.Insurance companies are a rip off…this is the results of corporate america
Linda
YEAH,105.00 is taken from my measley ck each month. II get a “rip snorting” 880.00 a mo. now 🙁 Yet the refugees get housing,medical,food stamps,etc. with OUR TAX DOLLARS!
D
You are ignorant willfully so
DMF
I’ve been there living in AZ for 30 yrs and no, they don’t. They all work and live three families in a 2 bedroom apartment in the absolute worst parts of town. Can’t get welfare without papers, ask for papers, lose your kids and get deported.
mike
Should b deported if no papers,
Karen H.
Don’t listen to these non- Christian people ,u should get just as much as anyone else ..JESUS said I was hungry u didn’t feed me naked u didn’t clthe me, everyone in this country are immigrants and less you are American Indian so don’t listen to these haters
Judith O.
So true!!
Judy
We have to start protesting in the streets!
LEGAL IMMIGRANTS DEAR!!
Robert
Do not forget that a lot of these illegals are getting social security,I believe the people on ss should start a protest march on washington about this and about congress getting another raise
Karen H.
Yes like u you are an immigrant and so is your family so how about we take away your children and send you back to wherever you came from.
Karen H.
That comment was for all the haters that think they are true american
Dee D.
Funny, I thought this was the comment on Social Security/SSDI. How quickly it became conversations about refugees, racist riot, are we not talking about How the GOVERNMENT is taking our money buy using a inadequate system, that was not intended to pay out money but to use anyway the Govt. saw pro-fit. Since you started another thread about refugees. Most people stay in the area/country where their family & they were born. My for-fathers were French Canadians Indian, I was born in America, which makes me a native ( lived within a 50 mile radius) of the boarder.Did any country offer to rescue the CIVIL WAR refugees, the woman who got raped or killed or their children the same, was there not starvation, what country took care of them? Our Country & Canada, Most refugees didn’t want to come to the US, wouldn’t you rather be close to your geog. area, language, race? would you go over there, not knowing the language, the laws & customs, to a country that;s nickname is, Babylon. I sure in the hell wouldn’t. Countries should not interfere with civil country wars, but the US does & their reasons are not of sympathy for the people. Do your research, before you just make a comment based upon, just what you think you know. The refugees should not be here. If Yellowstone Natl. Park gets anymore active & erupts, did you know the Govt.offered to pay 4 countries each 10 billion a year to house some of us AMERICANS. I think, in 2008., Africa said no-way, But Brazil, Argentina, Australia, jumped at it. Do you want to be forced to go to one of those places, on a moments notice, if Yellowstone were to blow, or if the global warming of glacier ice caused the ocean levels to raise & take up the U.S. coastline, inland 100 to 500 miles. The rich get to stay in what is left of America? Those who were deplaced, would go to one of the above countries. What would your decision be.? The U.S. should stay out of it & take care of their population now. We are one of the richest Countries in the world, & we have 45% % of its citizens living at poverty level, 30% just above poverty level. (50,000) a year. That’s 75% of Americans, who are barely scraping by, but the rich are going from millionaires to billionaires, & our Govt. is going broke taking care of the slaves that the rich have imprisoned, with slave wages. Get rid of the elite wealthy & get our freedom back & a GOVERNMENT that operates on our own Gold/Silver backed money. Then & only then will America be for its people & truly a rich country where all citizens our free & there is no homeless especially our VETERANS/VFW, & no-one in poverty
lr
Yeah and they dont even get drug tested for the assistance they get. yet if you go to work the first thing they do is give you a cup and say pee. It is really hard getting a job when you are older too…I hate this
William R.
Well at least you getting food stamps, because , what I get not enough to buy eggs , milk, and bread, I buy my food with my social security disability income, because you can’t hardly do anything with $15.00 dollars in food stamps. So I’m just saying count your blessings If you get more than $15.00 dollars in stamps.it’s a shame people who worked all there life paid into social security in to the system was hoping to live a good life without worrying about paying they bills if they become disable.
Peter M.
Linda, I do not begrudge anyone who needs help getting it. America is still the richest country on earth. Be angry at the politicians who are enriching the big corporations at the expense of us citizens. Please don’t be angry about America being generous to those in need. It is not their fault that your Social Security check is small — although I do fully understand the wanting to have someone to blame and direct our frustration at.
SonnY
I get around that much under what you get a month and that is really sad 🙁
carole d.
this is totally wrong…. send the refugees back to where they came from
Amber
Good post, Linda. Thanks. I get a “rip-snorting” $589/mo in my Disability check. That will pay rent exactly NOWHERE in America. I am divorced, disabled, and have a child to care for. The measly $2/month “cost of living raise” I got on my Disability check (are you kidding me?!) ?
was immediately answered by a deduction of $2 /month from my food stamps! Does the government of our country WANT more senior citizens and disabled out on the streets?
Anna P.
I know,Its infuriating. This is why we have a President Trump now. The Democrats are a bunch of Wimpy Polictically Correct jerks and the GOP is a Bunch of Wicked Politically Corrupt Jerks! Boy are we in hot water if we don’t Vote them all out and Demand Our Rights!
DC
Not just that but Medicare /the government won’t allow us to us “free medication offers”.from drug companies! Recently found this out during a wait period trying to get a med covered. Thus is very frustrating..
I am NOT eligible for supplemental medicaid in Michigan because I get $56. Per month over the eligibility guidlines. So, I am eligible for spend down or deductible medicaid…AFTER I pay $777.00 per MONTH medicaid will pay! This is rediculas. I’ve been told that I can NOT buy private insurance because I am eligible for medicare. I have cancer. I have dental issues. I have medications not covered by medicare so I must pay out of pocket!
NO I do not receive food stamps! That $777.00 monthly is a bit rediculas! Why not just the $56. Per month that I am over?
I live alone. Thinking it would be.easier to live.in a nursing home where they will make sure I get food shelter and clean clothes and the medical care I need! Seems like Michigan wouldn’t want to foot that bill but they will be pushing me right into one!
Congress needs term limits &pay needs to END when term is up!
Try living like this!
Amber
I hear you, DC. I live in Florida, where the Governor turned down an optional bill to states that would have covered many more low-income people under Medicaid. I know many people low-income who cannot afford to pay for medical insurance under the new federal mandate, but would get Medicaid if Florida had approved the federal offering of extra Medicaid. So many decent, hard-working people are screwed. This system is a hot mess. I feel for you, and things have gotta change.
Farmer
Yes, it did. See my comment above.
Rosemary
You got that right. I will only get $6.00 I’m going to have to go back to work.
blanc_dragon
And they always round down, not up, so you won’t get that 50 cents either. One more scam to screw the vulnerable.
mike
yea they do round down.
Ross
Try 45.00 Still not great.
sharon
it’s not 3% !!! it’s .3%. Multiply what you get by .003. that will be your increase.
nuggie56
$45.00 you will gt xtra
Judith O.
That’s probably 4.50 not 45 dollars unless you get thousands in Social Security!
Linda
I think the government needs to take pay cuts instead of getting raises every year or twice a year and let our seniors get increases in social security instead of a slap in the face
DC
I think we old people need to lobby for this!
carolyn
so true same here, that’s why I am voting Donald trump he will take care of the elderly. he is the only one that says he will not touch social security and he is on the elderlys side.
Sylvia
WRONG!!!!!
Robert T.
Gail Aggen, I hate to burst your $4.50 bubble, but you’re mistaken. For your husband to get $4.50 he’d have had to get a .3% raise. They are giving a .03% raise. That means his pay will go up 45 cents. After they round it off to the nearest dollar, HE WON’T GET A PENNY MORE IN TAKE HOME PAY! THERE IS NO RAISE! It was just a way to say, “We’re giving you a raise”. But in actuality, THEY’RE NOT GIVING US ANYTHING!!!
Sandy
No, he won’t see an increase at all because the cost of Medicare will go up. My check has been $1,695 every year since I retired five years ago. I just got my notice about the 3% increase. My check next year will be, guess what? $1,695. It’s almost like it’s a joke on senior citizens. 🙁
Stacieee
About time. After many years without going with no increase in pay many of us are falling into the poverty limits. The system needs to be changed as politicians give themselves raises every year while not thinking of us!!
KLS
Well stated!
jim k.
Same o”l. Thing. Look at who we have to choose as our President.Both are for their one Personal GAIN what’s New
Ann L.
Vote for Jill Stein.
Marilyn
How sad the amount of the increase. The cost of living is higher than ever before. The government themselves get a higher increase!!! Not nice
Ms. L.
Jill Stein is an idiot who knows almost nothing about the issues our country is facing and has no plan to address these issues.
Dreamhrt
Vote for Gary Johnson!
Jo
I won’t vote for J. Stein – that will just give the worst of the two evils, Trump & Clinton, another vote
Theresa
They should be embarrassed to give such a small amount. How much of a raise will Congress give themselves?
Ice
Jill Stein may be our future hope.
Terray K.
I am voting for Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka
Nick
Put all government workers on Social Security and see what we would get. That is how to save our Social Security too.
glen
very good!!!
Kfhonline
Most Government workers (including Congress) are on Social Sec. If you were hired or elected after around 1985 you pay into Society Sec.
JEANNE C.
You are so right. Let them luve off the amount they choose to give us. And when we do get a penny or 3 cents for cost of living they turn around and raise Medicare benefits so e en tho we gross more the NET bring home is liwer than before the 3 cent increase. The ENTIRE GOVERMENT INCLUDING THE PRESIDENT DOWN TO THE GOVERNOR. THEY WOULD NOT LAST A MONTH.
Shirley
Social Security Admin should be ashamed to even show the figure of .3 about 4.00 a month. Seniors don’t matter anymore. All that matters is giving money to people in foreign countries and not taking care of the seniors in this country. What a SHAME!!
Elizabeth
That would even cut the national debt!!
Robert K.
In Illinois state workers will get a full 3% raise in pensions, and this cannot be “reduced or diminished” according to the state constitution.
Susanne M.
Yes! The so called leaders should have to live off of what we live in when they retire. Just because they are a senator or congressman doesn’t mean they are “better” then we are.
mike
I agree with Nick.
Laura
The average Federal workers are paying SS taxes and will receive SS at retirement.. The only Federal employee receiving Federal Pension ,are the ones we elect into office. Yes, they phased out government pension in 1984..Btw, their pension has federal taxes deducted and Medicare premium that is non negotiable.
joecool
I believe most civil servants have been on it since the mid 80s.
Bil
s.s. very fixable every body on s. s. no limits
Bruce G.
They have been for many years. If memory serves correctly all hired from 1984 are covered under Social Security.
Neeltje W.
That is the solution,I’m for that !
Diana C.
I’ve been saying that for years now, Nick!
Mike
Or let their raises be based on the same COLA percentage we have to put up with!
Paul
It was January 1984 that Congress and most Federal employees started paying into social security. Please read the followiong;
In 1983, Public Law 98-21 required Social Security coverage for federal civilian employees first hired after 1983 and closed the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to new federal employees and Members of Congress. All incumbent Members of Congress were required to be covered by Social Security, regardless of when they entered Congress. Members who had participated in CSRS before 1984 could elect to stay in that plan in addition to being covered by Social Security or elect coverage under an ‘offset plan’ that integrates CSRS and Social Security. Under the CSRS Offset Plan, an individual’s contributions to CSRS and their pension benefits from that plan are reduced (‘offset’) by the amount of their contributions to, and benefits from, Social Security.
It is not true that Congressmen “continue to draw their same pay, until they die.” The size of their pensions is determined by a number of factors (primarily length of service, but also factors such as when they joined Congress, their age at retirement, their salary, and the pension options they chose when they enrolled in the retirement system) and by law cannot exceed 80% of their salary at the time of their retirement.
It is not true that Congressmen “paid nothing in on any kind of retirement,” and that their pension money “comes right out of the General Fund.” Whether members of Congress participate in the older Civil Service Retirement System or the newer Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS), their pensions are funded through a combination of general tax provisions and contributions from the participants. Members of Congress in the FERS plan must pay 6.2% of their salaries (up to the Social Security wage base of $106,800) into Social Security, as well as 1.3% of their full salary into the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund.
Candace
The ‘One’, the law doesn’t pertain to and the other doesn’t know when to shut it and listen. Which that may mean, the human races end.
I agree with the personal gain thing.
None of them care about ‘We the People’———- that just happen to pay their salaries.
Nancy B.
Yes! Why not? They work less hours per year than most people?
Lorraine
I agree. Congress should live by the same rules they impose on us including pay increase. Will their pay increase by a pitiful 0.03%? Why is money we paid into Social Security called a benefit when it is returned to us. Congress should be required to pay us out of their personal salaries instead of us paying them when they raise our taxes.
charlene
I totally think IF they got the same from Social Security as we do it would be CHANGED QUICKLY!
SonnY
YeP, that will work and see how they feel about it while they walking in our shoes.
Jld
How embarrassing!! .3 percent are you kidding me? Tell us what has gone up in the past years ONLY .3 percent??? WHAT A SHAME AND DISGRACE to the people!!
Richard
an ignorant statement since congress has been on ss since 1983, and all govt workers since 1986.
Trudy L.
Totally agree, have said that many times.
Gil C.
That’s genius.
Wanda
God Bless u that’s the word glfrom Hod . Let’s see how they could live on 716.00 amonth !!! This is a total sin for any human to struggle to live on the amount of money! God Bless u and u’s ??
Marty
Exactly what is needed if Congress all relied solely on Social security instead of huge pensions including the President than you will see them scramble to help us get better benefits. We are way underpaid on our retirement benefits as it is now. A major adjustment is needed and we will never see it from a Congress that gets huge pensions via taxpayers monies!!
Theresa L.
Thank you. I’ve been saying the same thing for a long time.
S. W.
Government workers are under Social Security since 1986 when the CSRS changed to
FERS. I worked 15 years under each and only receive COLA on CSRS. Study your facts before making assumptions.
sue
good one!!!!!!!!
anon
Exactly !
M.E.Hunt
Every candidate is for personal gain. It’s what they do when they are elected that counts. You cannot be elected without personal gain in this country.
Pearl B.
this is bad news for us said how they do us
mm
Wait till you see what how much medicare is going up! We should be able to do what we want with OUR retirement money the same as the government! It’s our money not theirs!
Karen H.
The increase is 5.00 a month , thanks to the republicans , but I guess it’s better then the 0 they have been giving us!! Yet ppl still vote against thier interest because of party , wake up!!
Trudy L.
Agree 100%
Wanda
Yes sir ?%tight we will just have to die and take care of all the immigrants!!!
Nan
No you need to look at who is in office now,obama is the one that did this to us not hillery or Trump . And if you think Trump is out for money think again he will not take any wages while in office do you think hillery will do the same NO she will not and Trump has all the money he needs so stop to think before you say things .
A. R.
What does this have to do with the SS increase?
Carl b.
My husband medicare premiums was reduced 35.00, what could be the reason?
R.F.
For security reasons, we do not have access to personal records in this venue. Your husband should contact the local Social Security office or call our toll free number at 1-800-772-1213, Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. for further assistance and an explanation. Thanks.
Marvallene L.
He is probably in a different tax bracket. Is he still working? Is he making less money than before? That would be the only way it would be reduced that I know about
bobbie
my ss went down last year $140.00 a month because I won $83000.00 gambling which put my income over $100,000.00 but I lost $130,000.00 but that didn’t matter th ss I appealed but they would not even consider my losseswhat a crappy government we have they couldn’t care less about us I know its my fault I gamble and need to stop but its my money and I pay tax on every penny I win so why penalize me more
Anita M.
Sorry, the government should be ashamed of themselves, that is no increase for our behalf. It’s just to help medicare. Increase in our SS did not help us, who are they fooling? Let’s see what happens next. We must be the last to be taken care off.
Nelson
They have to take care of the jimerent’s before S. S. And vets!
Mike G.
Are you on crack? Trump refuses to take a salary, and he renegotiated the air force one contact before entering office.
Pull your ignorant head out of your ignorant buttocks.
Barb P.
For their gain? Trump is giving up a lot but will not accept the Presidents salary. He is sacrificing a lot along with his wife and you think that is selfish? Are you kidding? He and a lot of his cabinet members will be losing money and lifestyle to help undo the mess created by their predecessors.
john c.
I heard that President Trump has reneged on his promise to not accept a salary as the president. Is this true and if it is, that’s shameful.
Lorene S.
Obama gave his mother in law a $160,000.00lifetime pension..that was sure above the .3 per cent increase!bet she does not even pay taxes on it either.
Robin C.
Must be Comforting finding out, President Trump is Truly for us!
Pawanna
That is why President Trump will not take the $450,000. a year salary like Obama – because he is in it for himself? – Don’t go there if you are just posting an opinion….. and calling it fact…
Lois
President Trump donates his salary to charity
Nancy
does he then claim it as a charity deduction from his taxes ?????
Louie
The President doesn’t determine the social security benefit amount.
Anthony
Well put!
Mark C.
Ahh…excuse me for my ignorance, but what’s your comments: “Well Put!” supposedly to its meaning regarding the thread here, and as it pertains to President Trump donating his $450,000.00 salary, for are subsequently and purposes of donations should being an having to decided therein doing with regards to this matters?
And actually, what President Trump does with his donation of entire salary, is that he donates to a returning of the entirety of amounts received, as back to the U.S Treasury. And it’s then used, for whatever’s in purposefully is thereby an decided by the Federal Government. This results, in an for the U.S. Treasury, then turning it over for purposes usages of the “General Fund” and it’s budgetary expenditures.
Jeff
a disgrace FED politicos sals shbe cut by 2/3 and they should only be part time who needs them?
Bil
they do not work full time
MPH
It don’t matter cause they will only take it back by increasing the ins..
opal p.
I TOTALY AGREE.THEY DON;T MIND GET BIG RAISE, HECK OF A LOT MORE THAN WHAT WE GET NOW.
caryscats
We payed more into this than were getting back !
caryscats
Look at all the pissed off Americans
Trudy L.
True, I don’t know who does the math on cost of living, but things have gone up a lot more than 3%. Besides when if ever will we get paid back for the money govn’t dipped into without our permission.
s. r.
I live in public housing, on ssdi, and they just raised my rent, which is SUPPOSED to be income based, 5th year in a row, additional $20 a month. In 6 years I received total COLA of about $55 (per month) but in same 6 years my ph rent has gone up almost $100 per month. I am living on almost $50 a month less now than I was 6 years ago, and we haven’t even gotten to the increases in electric, medical and prescription copays, and FOOD (no one in congress noticed that bacon went from $3.29 per 12oz package to $7.39 per same package in less than 4 years? That a box of same cereal has gone from $2.99 per 15oz box to $5.19 for 12oz box? of course not, they are not living ON THE RAZORS EDGE like those of us barely with a roof over our head …)
Since Obama’s terms began in 2008/2009, the COLA on ssdi benefits have been the overall LOWEST (of the some-40 years since the COLA was begun in 1975), AND the past 8 years have seen THREE of those years at ZERO (or close to zero, as this year’s).
CRIMINAL.
The idiots who ‘determined’ there ‘was no increase in the consumer price index’ this past year.
I live on less than $50 a week for food, I ABSOLUTELY know prices increased because there are basic items I have no longer been able to buy this year, that I was barely able to last year. Now, the coming year means I will be trying to live on EVEN LESS!
When you’re living so close to the edge, not being able to buy a gallon of milk, or a loaf of bread, a week, can literally mean there are EVEN MORE hungrier days ahead… ;-(
Theresa L.
I Agree 100%
Luna
You don’t get back what you pay in. Current taxpayers’ contributions go to people on SS at that time.
William
When you get a herd of pigs at the trough, This is what happens. when the. slops gone guess what. they eat one another.
William
Do not cast your pearls, amongst SWINE
William
Politicians are PIGS
Daniel W.
6/12/17….The COLAs yearly (or not!!) for SS recipients, have been a joke for many years now. Based on a false and totally arbitrary “CPI” (Consumer Price Index)—-the figures calculating my recent $4.00-increase (with $5.00-increase in Medicare!), continue to cheat millions of us out of our necessary, REAL INCREASES in “costs of Living in the real World!” … Sure, the Government and our Politicians don’t care about increases in their daily expenses…I wonder why…As the saying goes, “….You can fool all of the people…. Some of the …but Not ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME.”. DW, New York
Mark C.
I get it, too! Due to not taking Medicare Part B, for when I became eligible, to enrollment for the Medicare Insurance benefits coverage, under SSDI, and but instead I for the waiting… (Since, my wife had me covered under a great UHC PPO Plan – so I deferred! ) And now, is for are which I am paying a 100% penalty for Part B! This, for reasons of my not signing up for Part B, two-years post my ALJ Disability Hearings approvals – for which its was my adjudication is 100% completely disabled. ( Myself, is their’s as a owned faults, however. Because, for reasons this, is that ignorance of the law having its is no excuse, right?!?! )
I’m really getting clobbered, because I’m paying $217.00 – Part B Premiums per month. And only regular payments, for Part D of $39.90. Why? Well, strangely enoughs, is the Medicare rules allowed for a non-penalty, ‘if’ I could providing of ‘proofs’, and that I had continuously “Credible Prescription Coverage” is for the period since becoming eligible – till actually this is the time for my having to signed up for Part D. And my wife’s plan providing for that’s avoiding my receiving a penalty for Rx Coverage.
Now, why don’t they do the same thing for Part B? I’d had Part A in force (since it’s automatic Coverage without requirements for a premiums deductions!) I’d falsely believed, that Part A met all of the requirements for which having Medicare in force. So, I’m stuck with 4-years for a 100% double Part B premiums penalties payments, till I turn 65. And it’s I then changing over, to “Regular Medicare!” Ahh…what’s the differences between Disability and Regular Medicare? Answer: Absolutely NONE, WHATSOEVER, and it’s but for the a’tall!
There’s no such thing as a ‘fairness’ doctrines, whenever it’s in boils down, to any Government entities involvement within which is anythings they administering. And so much as their’s, and even if is dares to do as touches for upon these, anyways! And it’s the only reason necessary, to the all of theirs is but so in doing is a reasons whys! And it’s this for is and having a needs being.
Joy
I agree 100%. The politicians are getting richer while SS recipients are poorer. I can barely pay my bills. I just wish each one of the politicians had to live on my income for a month. Probably would not cover their gasoline bill.
Ed
For sure. They’re all corrupt!!
JEANNE C.
You are right Ed.
Ice
Our choice this year in the election, is similar to being given the option of eating a light-bulb or, drinking sulfuric acid. I won’t do either. Green Party here I come.
Barb
I agree, they should have to live at least one year on our income, then see what they think.
Trudy L.
Probably couldn’t live, then couldn’t afford to bury themselves. ha
Theresa L.
I agree with you Barb, only I don’t think they would last a month.
laurie
Social Security was never intended to provide your only income in retirement but rather to supplement other income and savings
B
Yea but now Social Security barely covers the cost of my spouses and my health insurance.
Susan i.
You thank OBAMACARE for that problem!!
harold
change the house and senate, they have the control……
blanc_dragon
And for those of us who became disabled 30 years ago and cannot add to our income and “savings”???
Last year we got no COLA because, the excuse we got, gas prices went down. Since I only leave home to drive 7 mi each way, once a week, that was ABSURD! Just my taxes and insurance on my home went up more than 20%!!!!!!!
Anthony
And how about us caregivers that would love to work but can’t?
Linda
I hear ya blanc,I am also disabeled. My mortgage is almost my entire SS ck.I sell on eBay to supplement my income to not lose the house or have my utilities shut off. Thank God I have 3 daughters who help.
Sheila M.
I agree with you 200%. I’m also disabled and can’t work, Lord knows I would love to more than anything in this world!! I worked 2&3 jobs at a time, so I’m not lazy or a stranger to working!! But our Congress has no idea what it’s like to have to live off of the little that we get every month!! I struggle to pay my bills, but yet my premium for Humana goes up… My cost for my meds goes up, and I’m on a lot of meds!! They reduce the amount of my foodstamps by $35 when I get a $2 a month raise, so there’s no use in me even getting them any longer!!!
I just don’t understand how they can decide that we can make it on what little they decide to give us!! When all along they give themselves a good raise and live very comfortable lives…
What I wouldn’t give to not be disabled, but I can’t change what has happened to me and I have to live with it for whatever time I have left. I feel like our Congress could do better by our seniors and our disabled Americans. Do they not grocery shop? Do they not see the price of food and how high it’s gotten? How are we suppose to be able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables when they cost so much that we can’t afford to buy them?? And they wonder why people are over weight? It’s because they eat whatever they can afford to buy!!
I guess I’m done ranting, if that’s what you want to call it!! I’m just upset with Congress, as usual…
Marvallene L.
I keep hitting our county assessors office to try to lower my taxes. I got it down a little last year so for this year they raised my assessment over $5,000. That means it goes up again. I take all the exemptions I am qualified for but most homes around me pay less!
Burt
True, however, the .3% increase does not begin to reflect the cost of living. We got a big gOOse egg last year. How quick these corrupt politicians forget!
Susan i.
Hey Linda, that’s who is supposed to help you…..YOUR daughters, not taxpayers. If you can’t make ends meet with the payment you get from SSA, then whose fault is that? Tell you daughters I said “Thanks” for taking care of their Mom. It’s their job, not mine, right? I don’t even know you;)
bobby
they want to be reelected!! give me a break, they need to be shot!
Marcella i.
They can keep my .03 percent.
That is just an insult. They raise their pay thousands at a time and then whine about that.
Karla
You nasty !
So, you must have a pretty good retirement,or whatever income you get to live on to make that kind of UN Empathetic remark. Maybe you need a little taste of being really poor and having a bad time. People like you make me sick! Less see, you go to Church, right? The type that prays and pretends to be a Christian and then turns your back on the needy except in other countries, probably got a few Charities you donate to, so not to make you feel like your not doing something to help the poor. Lady, you don’t fool anybody. Your a big Fat Hypocrite! You live in your on little make believe world and go around making hurtful comments to people that are less fortunate than you. I have a well off Sister like that and she treats me like a stranger and I have never asked her for anything and I have to live on an SSI disability because of Severe Anxiety disorder and Lupus and a few other physical ailments that make it impossible for me to work. Why don’t you quit trying to act like you wouldn’t be the first Leech in line at the DHS and Social Security offices if your little bubble busted and you didn’t have your comfortable income to live on. Gag! I think I need to throw up because you make me so sick.
Dale
they dont really care Burt. they couldnt live one month on what they give us. a measly 3% raise is nothing to get overjoyed about not when the raise everything else. my husband and i both are disabled and cant work. we wish all the time that we could find something to suppplement our income. we both have a lot of meds that arent cheap to try and get each month on top of all the other bills. we barely get by and barely ever can afford to go buy a hamburger. they get big increases in their salary while we get pennies
Sheila M.
What kind of goose egg are you talking about that you all got last year?? Because we didn’t get anything last year, they said that because of gas prices we weren’t getting a COLA!!!
Marvallene L.
Burt, are you talking about the increase to Medicare of $121.80. I had to pay that too. This year mine will be $127.00. Some will pay $134.00 and 70% will pay $108.00. for those who want to complain, the state will pay that cost for you if your income is around $1,300+ or -. That would bring your total along with scripts paid by the state around $1,450 approximately per month! By the way are your drugs paid by you or the state! I’m sorry If I have become offensive but I struggled to work for 45 years and now all my ailments of the past are showing up and have to be addressed and no one but me will have to cover the cost! Count your blessings!
Buster00
The .3% raise does not even cover the costs for Medicare. Medicare medical insurance for my wife rose 1.5% and 5.8% for myself. Needless to say, our overall benefits went down. And they say that we were given a raise? Where?
src
there are some of us that are not well off like you or you would not make such a stupid remark!!!!!!
Bill
Yeah, you all are right ,that little increase just means we have to pay more of something else. One the gas is higher then electric so what are you going to do when you still can’t paid all your bills and get put off the Hud program because you can’t pay all of your utilities. Answer that for me please. Don’t smile to soon because the joke is still on us.
PAM
TRUE ITS NOT OUR DAUGHTERS JOB TO TAKE CARE OF US , WE PAID ALL THOSE YEARS TO SS. BUT THE PEOPLE IN THE WHITE GET 3% FOR NOTHING THIS COUNTRY IS GOING TO H. NOT IN A BASKET CAN’T AFORD ONE.
Ct
But what about those who CAN’T go to work???
Linda
Not everyone has the blessing of a savings account Laurie.I am widowed,my late husband got Alzheimers and had to take an early SS,so of course he got less.
Trish
How can it be a supplement only when taxes are so high that you have no savings. Also I am a Widow and I still work . also when I get a rise from SS my husband’s SS that I get they take money off of his.. how is that fair so there for I get the same amount I started with.
Elizabeth S.
Linda & Trish,
Yep. 13 years of his Alzheimer’s and I am now a widow, too.
Kristine
It isn’t righteous,that isn’t right at all to you. In addition to that, the reason it isn’t okay is because you feel the effect from it. You and your husband face that struggle and no one is listening. Everyone is pointing, blaming, excusing, justifying, etc. . . it is going to require a monumental movement in order to have them hear. Not riots in the streets, but We the People.
Mickey
0% interest rates have eat up savings, Pensions are failing in more than 6 States & more will follow, so tell me how a person who can’t work, wish they could will feed their self or family when this house of cards all falls in the lap of congress & the federal reserve to have painted theirself into corner bail out TBTF banks while letting those who would hire a disabled person be regulated so bad they will not hire people like me & others who would replace the over seas jobs that pay nothing!
TY Bill Clinton & Robert Rubin, you cost America millions of jobs & Hillary will wipe us out.
The Bush/Clinton crime cartel is well know, you want to read how they do it, here is a link, I hope you have a few hours!
http://themillenniumreport.com/2016/10/treason-who-did-911-and-why-did-they-do-it/.
I hope the best to us all, GOD we will need his help & more!
Peace
Elizabeth S.
Life is not always fair. My husband’s Alzheimer’s wiped out 401(k) retirement accounts and small inheritances. Our house was also sold to cover his board and care until we were poor enough for him to qualify for a veteran’s pension. That pension and his Social Security retirement paid only half of the going rate for board and care. Meanwhile, I worked full-time and our son was in his teens. Best laid plans and all of that. All I have is Social Security retirement. So I am still working at 70. Sigh.
Mike
That is a truly unfortunate situation. Your. Husband’s service to this country is truly appreciated. I’m sorry to hear about your struggles, and I hope things work out for you eventually. Best wishes
Marvallene L.
Elizabeth,my husband had home care through the VA at no cost to me so I could work. We had to pay all other cost because of hospital stays,Dr. Visits, and 19 Meds. The should not have charged for home care as Medicare charges 0.0 co-pays for home care up to 5 hours a day and the VA does the same!
joan
But when you out live your retirement savings and you are too old to work, SS isn’t enough to live on. Mc ins higher plus deductibles go up. Pres. bush at least gave 5% raise when he left office.
Twan
@laurie
Girllll I buy my pussy creme with that mon Tay.
Chile my pussyhole talking Chinese
Jack M.
Some people never paid into another pension and thought social security would provide for them the same amount of pay they got by working. No, they get about 65 % or less of what they earned monthly.
A. R.
Thank you there has been a twisted message coming from that Twitter candidate.
Karen
EXACTLY, Laurie…a fact that MOST refuse to recognize…save, save, save today because tomorrow, YOU WILL NEED IT!!!
Tiger
Recession set in, my husband and I both had great jobs, gone, wiped out my pension and his 401K as it took me two years to find a job, he never did and is now on disablity and I just keep working. So savings don’t always pan out, and that is why so many baby boomers are suffering right now, we lost everything during the recession.
Steven Y.
Yeah but when your job was sent overseas and your pension cut, some people do need to live on it. Ex-steelworker 1972-91
Marvallene L.
You are absolutely correct! Can you also tell me hou to overcome 12 years of in and out of hospitals,transplant visits with all it cost and death affects someone’s finances when the spouse finally dies at the ripe age of 63! Some people prepare for old age just to have the money ripped from their hands by hospital,medical,death,etc. please don’t preach if you don’t know the circumstance! I went through it and only survived by instinct!
Marvallene L.
Sorry,I need to say I do better than many other people! My home was paid off before retirement!
Trudy L.
Well all that I paid in through the years I could live very comfortably.
s. r.
I was injured in a car accident that, several years later, 100% disabled me. Worked since I was 16 on up to my 40’s, before having to go on ssdi. I never intended it to be my ‘sole income’, but that is what has happened.
Please don’t state something like that (that people shouldn’t EXPECT to live solely on benefits, and/or that retirement/disability benefits were never ‘intended’ to be only source of income! No one, of mine or previous generations, EXPECTED to be disabled and living 100% on ssdi benefits, or having to work AND receive social security until they dropped dead!
We WERE assured our (ssdi or retirement) benefits would be adequate to provide a basic living income ‘someday’, and it is why we dutifully paid a large portion of our WORKING WAGES into them BOTH our whole working life, as INSURANCE.
Not trying to sound mean or petty, but for those of us older than 50, we most certainly WERE given the promise that we were paying into SECURITY (for older years, or unexpected injury/disability, or both)!
Lorene S.
U r only allowed to make so much on ss and thats after age 65 under that age u are not allowed to make anything or ss will deduct the amount u make from your ss check.To beat the system u have to be a crooked politician,which they all are.
Hopeless c.
Thanks laurie,i was wondering when the prerecorded comment was coming.. Quoted right out of the SSA handbook. Guarnteed everyone on here knows that,i find it unnesscary and without merit to post it. It sounds cold and callous.
We are American citizens who had full and productive lives,paid our taxes,provided for our families,worked hard and long at demanding jobs. Belived in our beloved country and our govt to do the right thing for WE THE PEOPLE. Our govt is a job. And the people are the employers. So the people review each canadate for each positions that are to be filled. With many seeking to fill single positions theres alot that rides on an employees qualifications and abilities with honest intentions to do the best job possible for their employer. After all we pay your salaries. Because thats what our fore fathers intended and fought for.
Somewhere along the line some employees violated the positions they were hired to do and decided rather being honest and fulfilling their committments,violated their contracts.
Instead they became arrogant and power hungry with greed,deciet,secretive,unlawful and criminal acts against their employers
And with this began the damage to our beautiful nation.and the neglect and disrespect of the American citizens. Our value has only become looked upon as their personal bank accounts.
Jeff
a disgrace politic’s sals cut by 2/3 and shld be only part time who needs them?Most are crooks dems rebup.. also 2 terms only anything else cause corruption and greed!
D
An Increase in #SocialSecurity Benefits in 2017 https://blog.ssa.gov/an-increase-in-social-security-benefits-in-2017/#.WAZ5bKdoCeI.twitter … $3 bucks per thousand ureal the SSA should be ashamed
Ice
That is $30 per thousand. Still not much.
Trusted n.
Sorry friend.
SSA says .3 percent. That equals just $3.00/thousand. Or a small latte once a month.
Jack M.
$.30 for every $100 dollars you get a month.
Lou
If these lazy people gets off of food stamps and get off of their lazy butts and work then we on social security would have more money it is not right that those lazy people is using our money and has kids so they can get more money be made at these lazy welfare people
Mary C.
They are all a bunch of crooked people who don’t give even a good damn about us. IT IS OUR MONEY. I paid into Social Security for 41 years and retired at age 64 and I made decent salary – I ended up with only 1304 a month! Everything is going up up up – not down. They are crazy to only give .3% – they act like the social security fund is tied i with the federal budget – how crazy. It is a SEPARATE fund and at last count should have over 3 trillion dollars in it. They need to get the low life worthless liars that get it on being drunks and druggies off social security, and get the LAZY ones off that lie to get a check that don’t want to work that never paid into it and then give the hard working class that actually worked ad PAID INTO IT more each month. How sad it all is.
susie
I get 701.10
Marjorie H.
Exactly!!! They could not do it and live like we do and survive!!!!!
Vince
I checked my ssi disability income and got a $2 raise. Wow. I only get $735 for ssi disability. I’m 40 years old and took me 27 months to get ssi. Bad thing is I ran out of points in 2012 to receive SSA disability. I applied for disability income in 2013 and a year later my lawyer tells me I only can get is ssi disability income because 3 months before I applied for disability my points ran out. How our government thinks living off $735 a month is possible , they are wrong. I will never get Medicare to help with RX coverage isn’t fair. Medicaid is good for my Dr appointments but for my rx coverage is unfair and causes me to go without my medications. Because TennCare Medicaid only pays for 5 prescriptions. My medications come to $1237 a month cause Medicaid won’t pay for them. The disease I suffer from causes me to lose my limbs. I’ve already lost my right leg and fixing to lose my left leg and left hand. So I’m in pain every day of my life when I can’t afford the meds to keep me to live at some what a normal pain free life. My doctors have done everything to get Medicaid to help pay for my meds. I have to pay out of pocket for 5 out of 8 medications I am on. Plus trying to pay to live. But illegal immigrants get better benefits than i do. Medicaid wants me to be in meds that are approved but they do not help. Where on 1 of my meds cost me $692 where if I could get Medicare I would only pay $1.20. I try to purchase a rx coverage plank but was told I can’t cause I have Medicaid. I wish i could go back to work but I can’t. So our government needs to help us more.
Lillie
I agree they would not live on what we get a mo. we worked for years to live on very little the rent alone is more then we get in most places,
judy g.
so very true and they don’t care they just wish all senior citizens would die so we couldn’t collect anything
Gloria
You are so right, Joy….. Politicians like Bill and Hillary go in with empty pockets claiming they are going to help the POOR and middle class and look at them now, they are millionaires, while the poor and middle class are poorer and jobless…..
Gloria
ROBERT C.
You got that right
me
True. But we need a President.
Trump is not for us. All he wants to do is make money for himself. I believe in voting for the lesser of the two evils. He will have us in WW3.
J B.
Agree!
Lacme
True. I agree
SonnY
JoY, total agree Thumb Up
Marvallene L.
Me too!
Amber
I got the .3 percent raise in my SSA check ($2). It was promptly counteracted by Soc Svcs reducing my food stamps by $2/month. Where, exactly, is my “increase”? I can’t live off my SSA check regardless, it is much too small. The Fed and State governments should be utterly ashamed- and FIX THIS MESS! It’s so unbelievably bad for seniors, disabled and even veterans, I wonder if Washington is run by a bunch of sociopaths. What other kind of people could put these kinds of policies in place?!
Dee
The statement that I received announcing the 0.3% increase did not show an increase in my record nor for my husband. Where is the tiny 3%?
gloria
yeah my o.3%id not increase my ss check one penny..i know its only that my supplemental insurance went up $6.00 and my plan d plan went up $14.00 so they could have kept that o.3% which is only $3.45 for me
Rich
2017 colo increase is a joke
Luna
SS was never meant to be one’s sole means of support. The original concept was a “three-legged stool” comprised of SS, savings and pension. However, corporate greedheads and Wall Street looted our savings and destroyed pension benefits. Any talk of CUTTING SS benefits is just cruel. Yes, I’m looking at YOU, GOP voters!
Kathy
You don’t think that a .3% increase is going to change that do you? Medical premiums are going up much more than that.
My increase comes to less than $4 a month.
It’s a JOKE!!!!!
Paul
I agree with Kathy. What is 0.3 percent going to do? Nice the politicians stabbed us in the back after years of not getting a raise and working so hard
Tony S.
Enough For Candy Bar a Month lmao !!!
Ms. L.
Candy is full of sugar and is very bad for inflammation. What we need is free prescriptions.
Bob
At the end o the month, when you are broke. Haved to watch for a BOGO!
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Mark
We all need to start calling a congressman and tell him this is bullshit
SonnY
@ Paul, getting rid of all corrupt government should make a change of those who doesn’t agree with the government policy.
Marvallene L.
Paul,we won’t get that money. It all goes to Medicare!
MARGARET
I AGREE
Linda
And Congress gets a big fat raise while we the people are the back bone of this nation
Ms. L.
Congress has no vote NOT to get their AUTOMATIC pay raises. As long as we vote for incumbents we are all screwed.
Edward
right on we reelect the same clowns hoping there will be change and there want be.
Terry
Linda, here is your chance to vote these politicians out of office. Why do you think they become politicians? Look at the Clintons, from being broke now they are almost billionaires. The COLA that we are getting is a disgrace and an insult!
Marvallene L.
All. The Clinton’s had to do was rob their Foundation! Have you wondered why it is under investigation? They lost $1,000,000 from what I heard!
Aloha G.
Your Social Security payment is based on the number of years and how much you made while working. Did you save any other money that you could be using to supplement your SS? How about getting a part time job?
Gene
You are an idiot. I worked for over 50 years. No way most people can save. People can’t work forever.
Dee D.
I agree with you, some people are insensitive. The economy is horrible and with so many layoffs and age discrimination many people were forced to take early retirement benefits..think back to Enron when employees were saving for a rainy day , before the company went belly up, because inside thieves stole. People need to think on two sides of the street instead of one side..we need to be careful on how we criticize those who are struggling.
M.E.Hunt
What did you work AT? Low-paying jobs do not get as much money since they pay in less than high-paying jobs. I worked for 32 years and have been disabled for 34 thanks to catching my mother when she fell and ripping my body apart BUT I was a research scientist, and university administrator and paid high amounts into Social Security. What about all of you people that are complaining?
gail
I agree what was left to save ? after you pay your bill , feed the family , support them . nothing to save ,, and if you didhave a few $$$. saved always some thing came up . you needed it for >>
galidink
CyndeeS
If you have equity in your home a reverse mortgage might work for you. It changed my mom’s lifestyle and now they are improved. Also look into having help with paying medicare supplement premiums. Property tax breaks are available for seniors as well as grants available for paying utility bills. These are real and make a huge difference. Foodshelves can supplement your groceries and there are community programs that distribute fresh produce, meat, staples and near expiration date products. Check with the local churches for programs that help seniors with home repairs. Good luck! I know it can be tough but there is help.
herb
You are right, Grambi is a total jerk.
Christen B.
Amen.
Jack M.
Had you worked for a company that offered a pension you would be well off today.
Tito J.
Had you saved $25.00 a week you would have a nest egg of $65,000 plus interest after 50 years of saving that money. It may not be a lot, but it’s more than saving nothing.
Lorena
How astute of you. I started working when pay was fifty cents an hour. That goes into figuring my amt. of S.S. I am now 76 years old, have stage 4 cancer, a broken back, a hernia and gallstones and you recommend I get a job. Thanks. Why didn’t I think of that?
misery c.
Lorene, I’m so very sorry for your situation. Wish I could offer more ?
CyndeeS
Lorena I will keep you in my prayers!
SonnY
Praying for you.
Dee
I do hope a better life for you Lorena. I just celebrated my “4-score”. I receive both SS & a reasonable pension. (as does my husband). My husband and I pay zero for our meds. grace be to military. We have lost two children. My husband has undergone 4 serious surgeries. (amazingly, the only time I’ve spent in a hospital was to give birth. The last was 1967). Still we eke out a reasonable living which would have been better if unforeseen circumstances had not occurred; like deaths of family members without insurance for which we were able to foot the bills. Every cent we receive is NEEDED! Please don’t worry your already taxed health about comments spoken from those who just may know Your Story…God Bless You!
Lorene S.
Trump os going to limit terms to congressdors not matter gop or dem!i have no Obama relative to give me a lifetime pension of $160,000 ayear like obama gave his mothet in law before he leaves office.hope trump takes it away,then let him and michelle keep her.they have plenty between them.
M
How about just cutting me a check for all the money I paid into SS for the past 45 years. It wasn’t a choice. I will NEVER see my “savings” !
D
.110% Agree! (the decimal intended pun)
Jack M.
We get more than what we paid in, so the longer you live the more you’ll get from social security.
Jack M.
You would waste it all within 10 years and have nothing for the next 20 years.
D
talk more it’s an important reminder of the overwhelming mountain of ignorance we have to overcome in order to restore democracy that encompasses all humanity
PAM
I’m 98 YEARS .DO YOU KNOW WHERE I CAN GET A PART TIME JOB.
Jack M.
You can sell snow cones at the Park and that’s not hard to do.
Jack M.
Walmart as a greeter.
s. r.
Jack should be ASHAMED OF HIMSELF for even making those suggestions.
Hon, if you are 98, I commend you, but you need to RELAX and allow the lazy younger folk to work those ‘jobs’.
I cannot believe anyone would disrespect a nigh-CENTARIAN by advising them of JOB opps.
And it’s a DIRTY SHAME our government is not taking better care of its previous hard-working citizens that you, active though you might be for your wondrous age, would even have to consider returning to the workforce…
I know the pain, however, you must be experiencing, as the cost of living is so high there is not enough left for food or medicines, and we too often feel forced to choose one over the other … ;-(
Retired A.
Twice the government has taken a trillion dollars from SS , and put it into general funds, and was to be payed back, and not a penny has been.
Shan
And don’t forget the 717 trillion they stole from Medicare for Obama Care
Laurie
Exactly! I was wondering if anyone was going to mention all the money they have TAKEN from social security and not paid back. And thank you for your service, Retired American and Vietnam Veteran!
Lorene S.
Companies do not want to hire anyone over50 nowthe government only allows so much into ss fund when it gets over a certain amount they take itand add it to thier fund,the same with medicare,look at Obama, he took $600 billion from medicare for his obamacare.and who do you think makes it up?s s recipients in co pays,ins.premiums,etc.
Marvallene L.
Thank you! After my legs heal from surgery,I will go back to the gym and then try to get a part time job and save it all for a rainy day. Yehaa
Amber
If I start working, my SSA benefits or food stamps will get slashed equal to whatever pay I receive. It’s a no-win situation, and after being driven into sheer poverty by trying to survive off an SSA check you couldn’t live off of in a 3rd world country, NO! I can’t “save”. There is never enough, and though I imagine you meant well, I’d just like to state for everyone’s knowledge it’s insulting to hear, “well, can’t you save or work?” The whole government system makes sure we can’t.
Jeff
it’s more than that it is a disgrace/ Who needs these politicos full time?. they do very little and many are not even there 50% plus of the time. Corrupt pigs who get in to get rich.. ( is that why that happens the longer they are in? Sals shld be cut 2/3 and they should be part time only and 2 terms only . we don’t need these slobs and we certainly don’t need the political appointees to many of these bureaucratic posts , ( most have no knowledge and just suck ass of who ever is in power) so many hard to count like social security execs Ridiculous! Name any fede agency it is all a fraud!..Send them home!
Terry
Jeff, well said. Here is you chance, make sure you vote them out!
taxpayer
i agree, also we forget $4 is taxable so we are not getting any thing from the government not even coffee and top of that we will be paying more for Medicare premium which is not yet announced. All Politician all over the world just talk during the election how good we will do if you put me in the office and then forget until the next election. Nothing we can do except not to elect them on their promises.
Ron
As I understand the hold harmless portion of Medicare law. Your medicare can not increase more than you SS increase so that would mean a 0.3 increase in the medicare part b Premium from 104.90 to 105.21. So you will have some of the $4 left.
jr233
looks like if you get 1500 and under its all going to Medicare it was a flat increase, mom 94 go 1045 net last year todays form stated she will get the same next year and her med advantage wet up about 4 bucks so she 48 dollors in the whole for 17 4th time in 8 yrs and 1 yr was flat 250 instead of a raise further decreasing ss. bet most forgot that deal got a 1 yr only raise do not forget policies over 8 yrs has made people who save mone in banks lose ground as bank interest is a fraction of inflation when useally its even or higher so responsible srs got screwed 2x
but hammer your kids and grand kids to invest in 401 or iras as ss is only going to get worst for them
i got disabled after a long recession layoff and had no disability quarters irs save me but i had to lose 25% For early retirement and between back trouble and a elderly mom i cannot even get part time
Marvallene L.
Ron, you get nothing more than last year! I was told all .003% goes to Medicare. Medicare is the only reason SS was increased,to cover the void in Medicare cost!
Barbara S.
Too bad we just got our benefits mailing and all of the “increase” went to medicare and none went in our pockets. Now as to those of you who are lucky enough to have a pension and SSA, there will always be people who make more than you and there will always be those who make less than you. Who would do the “dirty” work you hire out because you don’t or can’t do it? Those who make ridiculously small SSA should have it raised to the federal poverty level. Those that have far more than that should get a lowered SSA. The idea is that there is a safety net for folks who couldn’t, for whatever reason, earn huge amounts of money. I am noticing that those who have a lot of money are telling others to go to work [the 98 year old lady comes to mind]. Those making far less have much more compassion for those making little. There is a lesson here: It seems that those who have least are the most compassionate and those who have more complain and are the least compassionate.
Luna
I got no increase at all!
Kenneth S.
Perhaps our vote should be tied to how they treat us. Obama just gave himself a 16% raise in his retirement benefits.
A leader should lead, follow or get out of the way. If he was a true leader, we would also get a 16% raise,
Sampa
Why did this happen?
B
Our representatives are not representing us. They are representing the wealthy. We need to be vocal. Each of us who post here should be writing our congressmen.
Dee D.
I do agree..
M.E.Hunt
Wrong! What have you done to deserve it? Not much.
Geri T.
Must be nice up there on your pedestal. Not everyone has the opportunity to go to college in order to get a high paying job. Sometimes, even a good paying job doesn’t allow you to save. Personally, I worked hard and raised 2 special needs children. Never took a fancy vacation or lived high on the hog. All our funds went to covering expenses for my kids. Paying for things the insurance could deny, even though they were “medically necessary”. Our income was high enough to keep us from qualifying for any government assistance, so we struggled. Never a chance to save. Working to make my boys independent. Then, just when I thought there would extra to save, I became severely disabled myself. My disability income is half of what I earned before. It’s just over the limit for assistance. I fight to make ends meet. I go without many of the things that would make my life better. My boys can’t help, they have those low paying jobs you despise, but they are out there working. I doubt they will ever be able to save either. Also, there is no “getting a job” even part time, for me or many like me. Believe me, I wish I could.
So be careful up there, as falling off could change your life forever!
misery c.
God bless you, Geri T ?
Linda
Obama is a JOKE! Obama-care is a joke.Glad I am not forced to pay for it.
Hillary Clinton said they left the White House DEAD BROKE,yet now worth millions for FLAPPING THEIR LIPS.CROOKS!
Karen
Read this carefully. It is .3 percent or 1/3 of one percent. You will not even notice this in your check.
Gene
It isn’t one third it is even smaller. 3/10 is what we get. I would take 1/3.
M.E.Hunt
You need to learn math.
sandrsa
Medicare premiums are going up to 121.80 mo….so that wipes out the increase and more dollars. Means, social security checks will be less in 2017. This is a joke !
R.F.
Information about Medicare changes for 2017, when announced, will be available at http://www.Medicare.gov.
Sheila M.
I already have the information on my 2017 Medicare increase and it’s more than the increase that I will be getting in my check… So even though I’m getting a raise, I’m getting stuck with more premiums to pay next year that are double what I was paying!!!
Not to mention the price of my meds are going up as well, and I’m only getting a $2.00 a month raise…
Jack M.
Yes, for every dollar you get in your social security you’ll get a $.03 raise.
Marvallene L.
It will not increase or decrease your check! I got my statement yesterday and they knocked off .65 cents from my .003% increase. Don’t know where that money went! I was told that your benefit could not be decreased but why did they take the extra? They don’t like me calling them!LOL
Marvallene L.
Karen 1/3 percent equals .333+ percent ; 0.003 is the same as .3 percent.
Dennis
.3% ? That pretty much adds up to a slap on the face. That is disgusting. How many years have we gone without an increase and now they scrape up a .3%. I bet THEIR raise will be a hell of a lot more than that and they don’t even do anything!
Rosemary
.3 is disgusting, that’s like $6.00 for me. But they can send billions of dollars to other countries and Americans have to suffer.
Sampa
Be thankful for something. Could have be Zero.
Gene
Might as well have been 0. Last two years with no raise and now $5 or $6 a month, how generous.
B
Might as well have been zero. They will offset the increase by taking it back in some other form of taxation.
PAM
THANKFUL FOR WHAT , THEY SENT 400.000 MILLION TO IRAN THAT A SLAP IN THE FACE.
Dee
Awww, Pam, congratulations! I want to live to be your age and beyond. I hope you have more birthdays!
s. r.
It HAS been ZERO, two years in a row! This .3 ‘increase’ (less than $4 IF medicare increases haven’t already wiped it out – and for me, public housing has increased my rent over $20 a month every year x 6!) is a SICK JOKE! It’s ZERO in every way imagineable but for medicare’s uses.
Obama’s two terms have seen the LOWEST (go look it up, the 1975 to 2015 COLA graph!) COLA ‘s in FORTY YEARS, and more ZERO ‘increases’ in his presidency than all of the other 32 years COMBINED!
All that talk of the SURPLUSES in SS over the previous years, when that money was FOR the boomers coming in NOW, should never have been counted by the government as ‘free money’ – now we are PAYING AGAIN, for bureaucrat spending of money WE PAID INTO SS/SSDI the first time…
Luna
@ s ryan, it has NOTHING to do with Obama! The formulae have been in place for decades. Stop acting like history began in 2004. It’s people like you who gave us Trump.
Sampa
Be thankful for something. Could have be Zero and you receive absolutely nothing.
herb
What kind of idiot are you? Are you here, just to annoy people? Moron
Amber
Well said, Herb. Winding up with actually LESS than last year is obviously worse than “could of been zero”. Sheesh.
Sheila M.
IKR, THEY, OUR GOVERNMENT; CAN SEND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO ANOTHER COUNTRY FOR WHATEVER REASON!!!! BUT OUR GOVERNMENT WON’T DO ANYTHING TO HELP AMERICANS RIGHT HERE AT HOME…
I SAY TAKE CARE OF PEOPLE AT HOME FIRST, THEN YOU’LL ALWAYS HAVE SOMEONE THAT WILL HAVE YOUR BACK… We the American people are more important than sending money to a third world country! Take care of America first!!!
Marc
Although there was no COLA increase last year (2016) there was an increase for 2015, 2014, and 2013. If you’re going to complain, at least get your facts straight. Mischaracterizing, exsggerating, ir displaying a lack if knowledge of the issues, only damages your credibility.
Bill
There’s a retired government worker for ‘ya!
blanc_dragon
And none of those previous COLAs kept up to nearly the REAL cost of living. We, the disabled, ratchet downward in poverty every year. Even Medicare is a screw job. They only pay what ever they decide is “reasonable” and, after copays and deductibles, I still had to pay another $1000 for a simple overnight surgery.
Gene
I got no raise last two years and you didn’t either. Last raise started January 2014.
Sheila M.
Thank you!! I didn’t get one either!!
Ron S.
We received no increase the last two years. Yet the overall cost of living continues up.
It is time that the WH gives our citizens the increase instead of all the illegals who get everything free.
Jack M.
In our next lifetime we all should come back as illegals.
Sheila M.
I agree 1000%!!!
ROBERT C.
whats going to happen when Hellery brings in 100.000 refugees and half of them are over 65.?
Luna
Oh, brother! SS has its own dedicated fund. Immigrants legal or otherwise have nothing to do with SS funding. But I guess racists always find it easy to blame The Other.
Linda
Mark,why are you even on this blog since you are so high & mighty? Love the trolls who chastise others!
D
As do your condescending comments
Carolyn
The last two years we have not had an increase.
Dee D.
The government has always been insensitive to the needs of the people; when you apply for food stamps, they tell you your income is too high so they give you $15 to $10 to eat off of, but yet if you have a gang of babies you get $1,000 worth to sell to those who scam the system.
M.E.Hunt
You need to learn to read.
Joyce
People we are not getting 3% we are getting 0.3%. on $1000 would be $30.00. 0.3% will be 3.00. Then they will turn around and raise our Medicare payment by the same amount. Write your Congressman or woman. I know their reply will be well we don’t have anything to do with that. When contact AARP.
Elizabeth S.
What is used to calculate COLA? Prices are up on bread, prescriptions, meat (not that I buy it any more), rent, etc. I am afraid to retire.
R.F.
The purpose of the COLA is to ensure that the purchasing power of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits is not eroded by inflation. It is based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of the last year a COLA was determined to the third quarter of the current year. If there is no increase, there can be no COLA. You can find details about the new COLA at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/cola.
Alan
Mr. Ray Fernandez, Public Affairs Specialist,
Here is the Absolute Bottom Line: The Federal Government needs to get out of the Insurance & Healthcare Business. Social Security needs to be Privatized & Administered by Non-Politicians. Healthcare needs to be deregulated to create competition & drive costs down. The way I see it, our country has been run by career politicians for the last 2 ½ centuries. Where has that gotten us? I too think having leadership by a non-career politician is EXACTLY what this country needs as well.
Now, the COLA configurations that are being presented to us on http://www.socialsecurity.gov/cola I believe are incorrect assessments. These calculations do not comply with current rises on products and services!! How can anyone who is on SSA or SSDI be able to afford anything when these calculations are inconsistent with the rise in rates on Medicare Premiums & Health Care, not to mention the current increases in products and services being sold in the USA?
I truly believe these current calculations & configurations are ridiculous and unacceptable!! I do believe this system is broken and needs to be re-formatted almost immediately. The CPI-W is for people who are currently working, right? If this is the case, then where is the TRUE COLA for SSA & SSDI Recipients? 0.3%, Seriously? Sorry, I find this to be a ridiculous attempt at telling the great people of the United States of America they’re getting that so-called “Raise”!!
Luna
The CPI for food is based essentially on what a bag of groceries cost 60 years ago.
Ron
The Cola does not use food in their calculations, stating the food prices are to Volatile.
Marvallene L.
After the news says that wages have gone up 3% this year!
Marvallene L.
If they get a larger raise we should call them out on it as they take taxpayer money they didn’t pay into. Maybe the laws should be changed and voters should be allowed to vote on their raises! Sounds right to me!
Rodolfo W.
Me encantaria saber como hacen los cálculos de costo de vida. Si el comisionado tuviera que vivir con lo que se recibe por SS, estoy seguro no estaría gordo y lustroso como se ve en la foto. Si hubiera inventido lo aportado por mis patrones y lo mio podria haber comprado dos casas modestas y la renta seria el triple de lo que me envian.
M.E.Hunt
You need a translation.
Ron S.
Here is a prime example of the freeloaders who get our COLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Linda
EXACTLY Ron 😉
Elizabeth S.
Since you don’t have all the facts, it is not appropriate to name call.
Luna
Shame on you, Ron.
R.F.
For information in Spanish, please visit us at http://www.segurosocial.gov or http://www.facebook.com/segurosocial.
Jack M.
I need to get myself an English and Spanish dictionary.
vjones
or a computer program that will translate for you
ROBERT C.
why don’t they get a program to turn that gibberish to english. OR JUST PRESS !
Sally
Maybe it was a typo? Surely our wonderful government meant to type 3.0 instead of .03 .. smh .. ridiculous!!
Rosemary
I sure hope it was an error.
Jerry
Its not an error, its a joke, an insulting joke! State taxes have risen, groceries have risen, medical insurance has risen, medical co-payments have risen. The only thing that the price has gone down is gasoline, and most of us burn little of that as we no longer commute. The powerful Washington elites only worry about their own butts.
inCatnito
I was informed by MediCaid, that I now have too high of an income so I need to give them a $700.00 deductible. My income’s been the same since our last big raise. I’ve been Disabled for 17 yrs and live on Soc Sec Dis. I dont think we’ll get the new medicare deductibles until after the voting is done. Now CA is doing a trial study. They want to start charging a mileage tax. Think Oregon is in on the study too.
John d.
It is .03 % not 3%. I’ll be sending mine back as I feel it is a blatant insult .
vjones
.3%
Dee D.
Me too, Ill take 10% and be happy..
Jack M.
No error.
M.E.Hunt
No. Do the math. .3percent means .03 x 100.
sharon
3 tenths of 1% is the same as .003. So for every $1000 in SS you get multiply it by .003 = 3 dollar a month increase. What an insult. Now they will be able to increase the Medicare monthly deductible from your check. If they do, you may be surprised that you end up with even less than you get now. Thanks for nothing.
BGreene
They cannot deduct for Medicare from your SS more than the amount of the increase in SS.
Basically, all of the .3% increase will be deducted for the Medicare premium.
PAM
DREAM ON
JMR
This is so true. Then they give us this small increase and what happens; Medicare takes it. Everything is going up but our benefits that we worked for and paid into.
Rosemary
So true and I worked 37.5 years and I’m going to have to go back to work.
Dee D.
I feel for you, your latter yrs should be your better yrs..
sharon
if someone will even hire you.
Jack M.
Tell your adult children to provide a stipend to you since you supported them. Not bragging, but mine don’t have to since I get two pensions.
Kevin S.
I noticed Congress received their raises as usual. Useless Crooks.
Rosemary
Ofcourse; they got substantial raises. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Dee D.
They will continue to be crooks til this world ends.
M.E.Hunt
Not if you keep electing them.
M
Well look at the choices we have to vote for ! Sad , sad times. I am concerned for my grandkids
M.E.Hunt
NO, I did not say that. Read the first one again and then think – think about enforcement of ideas in written statements. I am leaving because this discussion and its editors are either stupid, ignorant or uneducated.
You deserve all that you get.
Ct
Believe me..HE’s on His way! Praise Jehovah! Amen!
D
over .03 percent? Kind of over dramatic
Pearl B.
God is on his way to save us all.
PAM
YES THEY WILL.
M.E.Hunt
They are “crooks” because everyone who voted them in elected them. Did you?
Carole
Amen…that’s the problem with the government. They raise theirs and they will get paid rest of their life. Say what? That’s why we are in deficit. Senators and congressmen get paid for a lifetime working or not.
Ron
Michelle Obama”s Mother was paid by the tax payers to be a nanny for their two children for 8 Years. Recently I read an article she will no get a $166000.00 a year government pension for life for her service.
Luna
Stop reading Breitbart, your brain is rotting.
jmn
That text says it ALL.
THANK YOU
Trish
But, notice that it states that much of the increase will go towards the increase in the cost of medicare…so we really aren’t getting anything! So a raise is basically, BS.
Carol
Huh some big raise. We’re getting about a $2 raise! That will certainly help! NOT!
chris b.
Thank you for speaking for many of us.
Marge
Read what & how the “Cost Of Living Adjustment” increase is calculated then you will understand.
Gene
You are an idiot. The only thing that hasn’t gone up is the price of gasoline.
blanc_dragon
It’s not that we don’t UNDERSTAND!
It’s that the process is a fraud, doesn’t acknowledge reality for the mainly elderly and/or disabled, and that’s been pointed out for years.
Just because we’re poor and disabled doesn’t mean we’re stupid! I worked my way through college and I started paying Social Security when I was 17, 52 years ago.
Dee D.
All right now, Im with you on that..
Amber
I agree. Why quibble over the math of 3 or .3 or .03 percent raise. None of those options would help me have enough to live on. That is the real point, and I’m not going to be distracted by silly math arguments.
Elizabeth A.
My rent has gone up $158 in the 10 months and I get a .3% increase? Gee, thanks.
Jack M.
Why are you still renting because most people pay off their home before they retire?
Luna
That’s an idiotic statement.
Stella
IF you vote for Trump, kiss you Social Security goodbye! The Democrats gave you SS and they want to improve it but the republicans keep on blocking any legislation the President has brought forward. Vote your pocketbook!
B
But wasn’t President Obama the one who allowed our payed-for Social Security t be siphoned off for military costs? And I like the guy.
blanc_dragon
It was Johnson, for the Vietnam War who started it and the other have followed on.
Emma
Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marge
Instead of complaining, read or research how your Social Security is calculated based on your past working earnings before retiring. The COLA, or Cost Of Living Adjustment, is based on certain costs during the present year.
Gene
Too late as the people complaint are retired already.
B
Knowing how it’s calculated does NOT assuage the anger over the clever ways they have arranged to screw us. To not give us our money they will even find a new way to recalculate as they have in the past or change other aspects like they did this year.
misery c.
BRAVO ???
blanc_dragon
Work for SS, do you Marge? We’re not stupid nor are we uninformed. We’re angry about the injustice and the lies surrounding that.
Those “certain costs” do not line up with the reality of the elderly and/or disabled, (I am both), costs of living.
But what the hay! Reality never served the administrators well did it?
Dee D.
You go, I like your statements, some people never want to face reality, but always want to right in la la land; I refuse to be pacified, right is right, the government will never be for us.
Linda
Americans are taxed to death,property taxes,tax on purchases,gas taxes,etc. then the immigrants are let in and given a FREE PASS. Subsidised housing,medical,food stamps,etc. Also,billions go over seas and the American tax payer has NO say in where their taxes go.
D
just like you are huh… it’s called projection just FYI
R.F.
Automatic benefit increases, also known as cost-of-living adjustments or COLAs, have been in effect since 1975, and it is based on the annual increase in consumer prices.
vjones
whose CPI? My personal CPI has increased more than .3%
the CPI needs to reflect the cost that the average person who receives SSI, SSDI or SSR.
not the cost of the average working person
Denis D.
After 0 increase for 2016 and a low increase in 2015, the increase for 2017 is at least 1.5 for any SS of $1000 or lower. 1 per cent for $1001 and higher. The estimate of .3 per cent for 2017 is an insult.
Dee D.
Yes it is!!!!!!!
Dee
Indeed! Especially since you will not even see the 1 iota of the 3%.
Joan b.
Heck yeah. And why isn’t income over 127,000 taxed by SS?
Dee
“cause the rich get richer, while the poor just suffer”… it is called, SOCIALISM!
Luna
Another idiotic statement.
Luna
Congress would have to raise the earnings cap, that’s why!
Emma J.
We also need dental care and vision also not only for the lowest income, give the one with a modest income. To have a way to obtain some of the cost we earn is while working. Okay. ?
Caroline
I so agree…and the tax payers pay for those.. which includes us
Ann
It is 0.3 increase!! You will be lucky to see $4.00 a month increase! It’s a joke!
Isabella
Amen!
Dorothy A.
We as retirees need to protest about this. I ‘m alone and it is hard to keep food on my table. You can forget about going on a vacation. It;s a shame before Almighty God. God be with us all.
Isabella
Im on SSDI, and it literally breaks my heart knowing I, like too many are not getting enough assistance, therefore housing, food, basic necessities are a premium unaffordable for too many!
TRB
0.03%, SERIOUSLY????
Jstar
It’s almost an insult at 0.3%! Have they not considered the rise in everything especially food? Yes, I know fuel has come down, but almost everything else has gone up to a point a lot of Seniors cant make it.And if they would stop taking the funds out of Social Security for other things, maybe we could get a decent raise.
Lydia P.
So sad after waiting for this .03 % is nothing. Most of us are way below poverty leval. Any many is all that they receive.
Fariba S.
Well Said, but 0.30% is not even 1.0%!? What is congress thinking?
Joyce
Staciee, do you realize how little 0.3 percent amounts to on say $1000, it is $3.00. Yet Congress will get 3.0% on $174.000. That comes to a raise of $5220. Something needs to change.
Victoria F.
WE NEED A 25% INCREASE AND WE NEED IT NOW!!!!!
Victoria F.
SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS. IF THIS COUNTRY CAN TAKE CARE OF THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS BY GIVING THEM EVERYTHING FREE, WE SHOULD GET A REALISTIC INCREASE.
Mr. H.
To get big raises, American companies should show their patriotism by bringing offshore jobs back to the USA! The additional SSA tax revenue would allow for the bigger raises year after year.
Bob
I agree! However this increase is so small it is laughable!
Kecia H.
This country is so full of its self when it comes to taking care of its own. Billions to other countries and can’t take care of elderly or disabled. There shouldn’t be a single person of any age below the poverty level in this Country. It wouldn’t be what it is if not for parents and grandparents. When my Mom started working minimum wage was $1.15 an hour. Its batsted on what you paid in what about some of the people who never paid in anything? Not saying anything bad about them maybe they were disabled or a housewife. It still isn’t fair for people like my Mom to draw less. Try living on $900 a month I dare you. Dad thing is people probably draw less. No inflation, a lot of that is based on the price of gas most seniors and disabled are more interested in a bottle of blood pressure medicine or gallon of milk. It’s easy to sit in an office with furniture and accessories in it that are worth more than a rundown house that some of these seniors and disabled live in and say “Here’s $4 more a year but cost of your Medicare is going up $10 more per year. This country is the most disrespectful country there is when it comes to those who have given us life and built this country OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS. This is unacceptable what happen to the money that was borrowed from Social Security? Those who voted for this need to live for 6 months on what our Seniors and disabled do. Getting older isn’t that the thing most people strive for? There weren’t retirement plans and IRA’s back when. They were promised pay it in and we (the government) will take care of you. Another political LIE. So sad
Sheila M.
THANK YOU KECIA, VERY WELL PUT???..
I DON’T THINK I COULD HAVE DONE ANY BETTER..
I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAD TO SAY…
ROBERT C.
well stated
Mary C.
I totally agree!
Linda
I agree,the fat cats get fatter while we struggle 🙁
Debra R.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!
0.3%. NOT 3%. Can’t buy a kibble with that!!! Give me a break…
Carol
Oh good! They gave us a .3% increase. Yay. That means they can raise the Medicare rate, which means we will have more out of pocket expenses and lose even more income. They can’t raise the Medicare rate unless they give a COLA increase. Here it is.
ata
What do you mean, “about time”? 3 tenths of one percent. On a thousand dollars that amounts to 3 (three) dollars. And most of that will be wiped out by a Medicare premium increase. What a joke!
Sheila M.
Thank you!! The increase in my pay will only be $2- $3 a month… Now I don’t know about any one else, but I really don’t think that is going to go anywhere!! They can keep it for all the trouble it’s going to cause… My Humana premium is going up, meds are going up! Heck everything is going up, just because of a $2-$3 dollar raise and I can’t afford that as I know others can’t either!!!
But yet they continue to give to the illegals all day long!!!
Gary
The cost of food should be included in COLA.
Allan
The “good old boys” in Congress will always take care of themselves first.
Enos O.
The average SS income for 2016 is $1,180 and the average SSDI income is $1,166 per month for some 165 million people.
According to my calculations, SS increase will be $ 35.00 and SSDI increase will be $34.98 per month.
Probably be able to purchase one sack of groceries for a week and not enough to buy a tank of gas. This is our hard earned money paid into a retirement fund for us when we retire from active employment Yet, we are 20 Trillion dollars in debt and increasing because of a spend thrift government. I think we old folks have been hoodwinked by greedy politicians that don’t live by the same rules as we and there is nothing we can do about it but VOTE.
Ken H.
you better recheck your figures. We are getting about $3.50 more a month, not $35.
Jack M.
.03 % is three cents for every dollar you now get, so most of the people will get a $3.00 raise.
Jack M.
.003% I meant to put down.
Judy M.
is it calculated on gross monthly payment before medicare is taken out?
Ken H.
This is the first year in a long time we didn’t get a COLA increase.
Camille
don’t know if it’s true just heard on news it will be about $4 a month more which is ridiculous if it is.
Robert M.
Pay Congress according to what they do and for attendence like we were paid.
It would help the situation.
BSP
What do you mean about time!!!! .3% sucks, but yet everyone in DC gets a raise. Donald Trump will fix all that’s wrong in DC….Let’s get him in so he can do what needs to be done in this United States of America. Borders, Economics, Immigration. We need to be one united country. Forget globalization.
joan
Neither Hillary or Trump have even mentioned us on SS. They haven’t said anything about helping the elderly.
Vikki
.3% isn’t even touching hoe much the cost of living is. They need to redo the math. Go to the grocery stores, Live on what we are living on for a month, plus pay their bills
Joe
If the cost of living is so low as to give us only a .3% increase, then why did OASDI go up 7.34% in 2017? The numbers don’t add up!
Den
The politicians are doing it so we will feel good and vote for them. Don’t forget Oboma used almost a trillion dollars from Medicare to start Oboma care. Thus a raise in cost to make up for the short fall. Smoke and mirrors and the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing
DMF
Paul Ryan thinks $5 a month is too big a raise. Whadda you think is fair?
Personally, I expect that perhaps Republicans in office should be forced to live on SS alone for 3 months – no cheating. You think those rich so and sos know what $5 even is? In their reality, when would they spend as little as $5? They just throw down a government credit card that my taxes pay for.
Jose
They do not hesitate to spend millions in fruitless investigations. They should be ashamed of themselves , specially the proclaimed religious sect.
ROBERT C.
why just the republicans all politicians. Especially the crooks.
Rosie
Very well stated
mike
agreed, and then they cry they cant live on all that salary,,b.s.
Janet P.
Well Said. The middle class is going broke .. We need help. People are losing their homes and jobs.
Ron
Because the so called political leaders are very much corrupt and also very selfish and greedy!!!
Russ
The government is raising the Social Security a tiny bit to allow the medicare rates to go up across the board. The law for us old folks indicate that the medicare rate cannot go up as long as there is no increase increase in our social security. I’m sure this $4.00 average per month will be chewed up and more, watch your Jan. 2018 check it maybe smaller then Dec. 2016.
Judith O.
Whoopie do! 0.3 percent that only amounts to 2 to 5 dollars for most people! Plus if the Medicare premiums go up everyone will be in the hole! Selfish government!!
Sherry S.
well put!
carolyn
its only about a five dollar raise, I think this abominable considering Obama has never gave us a raise. he is giving 17,00 dollars a monthe to refugees and give his mother in law 165,000 dollars for baby sitting and having great big parties at the white house. but he can’t afford any more than 0.3 for the elderly.
Geraldine L.
0.3 % increase averages out to about $4.00 more a month our checks. What a bunch of bull. WOW!
this will really help keeping us out of being homeless.
joan
Mc premiums are going up, I heard $27. a mth. Big raise. Lol.
R.F.
Information about Medicare changes for 2017, when announced, will be available at http://www.Medicare.gov.
joan
But when you out live your retirement savings and you are too old to work, SS isn’t enough to live on. Mc ins higher plus deductibles go up. Pres. bush at least gave 5% raise when he left office.
SDel
Not poverty it’s more like Destitute for us??
Robert
A good raise is what we deserve but are not going to get ,we are getting a 0.02% that for me will only be 2.00 dollars and this sucks, i was on social security facebook the other day and this woman was asking she had been deported back to her country and she was wanting to know if she would still get her social security check
MizDizzyMizzy
Many years? If I remember correctly, 2016 was the first year there was no COLA increase since automatic increases based on inflation began in 1975.
Having said that, a whopping 3/10 percent isn’t anything to write home about either. In my case, it means $5.18 a month. I guess it’s better than what we got last year…or a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I guess it’ll mean that I can get a venti latte from Starbucks each month, it certainly won’t make a bit of difference in my being able to afford the 4 of my 11 prescription medications that when I reach the Medicare Coverage Gap (donut hole) that each month, cost almost as much as my monthly benefit. This is WITH a Medicare Advantage Plan & taking into account that my monthly benefit is $120 over Medicare’s cutoff for Extra Help in paying for your prescription medications.
The bottom line is the whole system is broken beyond repair. The “Affordable” Care Act ( Obamacare) is a joke. Sure, more people have health insurance now as a result…only because the IRS hits us with a tax penalty if we don’t have insurance. This makes PERFECT sense to me: penalize people who can’t afford health insurance in the form of tax penalties that just add up & never go away.
Bottom line is the Federal Government needs to get out of the insurance & healthcare business. Social Security needs to be privatized & administered by non-politicians. Healthcare needs to be deregulated to create competition & drive costs down. It worked pretty well for the phone companies. Why not healthcare? The way I see it, our country has been run by career politicians for the last 240 years. Where has that gotten us? I think having leadership by a non-career politician is EXACTLY what this country needs. The politicians sure haven’t done much of a bang-up job…we certainly couldn’t be much worse off than we are now.
Karen H.
Keep voting republican and that’s what you’ll get every time nothing!!
ann
Anen!
Rose R.
still no increase…our checks will go down because our medicare will go up
R.F.
Information about Medicare changes for 2017, when announced, will be available at http://www.Medicare.gov.
ROBERT C.
bet you guys are real glad you started this blog… So many happy people
Sherry S.
I can’t believe they offer us a mere 0.3% raise. What is that??? 25 cents a month.
The shift of human beings income should shift. Make the politicians live off of what we do and they would quickly realize how it feels to wonder if you can afford a loaf of bread $1.79 a loaf or a blood thinner pill that costs $5.00 a pill. Eat or die of a blood clot? Thank you Congress.
Karen H.
Well get a clue and remember we have had a republican majority for the pass 6yrs. Stop voting against ur interest or stop conplaining
ROBERT C.
that explains it you are a Helleryite. Probably on her payroll. getting richer by taking money from countries that want to kill us AMERICANS. As far as your comments about all being immigrants and haters. You are right but we did it legally. didn;t just sneak over the border and say here I am now PAY ME. You want to be an american do it the right way like our for fathers did. oh and the hatting part its directed at self righteous people like you that want to give away the money that i paid into SS.
Tony S.
Elect me Social Security Commissioner or reconcile with me when SSA’s criminal trial is over. I will end benefit attrition and pay beneficiaries a 6% COLA in 2017 and 3% every year thereafter to keep ahead of the 2.6% SSA propaganda retarded actual CPI rate and 2.7% true consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate for intermediate projections under Sec. 215(i) of the Social Security Act 42USC415(i). It would be so much easier to work with me than my truants, last found robbing beneficiaries to pay to murder police officers in re: King et al v. Burwell (2015). I will be immune from your anger because I will not rob you, I will pay better than ever, including orphans, I will edit my medical textbook 2016-17, and will lobby hard to tax the rich to end poverty by 2020 beginning with all 16-24 million poor children, hopefully in 2017. The 0.3% COLA is one-tenth of the 3% legal COLA that is one half of the 6% settlement for the Acting Commissioner’s hopelessly kleptocratic fascination with historically unsatisfactory COLA. 2017 is our one chance to get a 6% COLA to make the automatic 3% COLA and raise in minimum wage law, by getting the OASDI tax rate mathematics right, without needing to pass the tax on the rich, but definitely intending to do so, under the Social Security Amendments of January 1, 2016 http://www.title24uscode.org/ss1.htm
Manuela C.
people that never worked a day here in the USA get more
Joe L.
So very true.
Joanne
But what does that 0.3% come out to monthly? Like a buck and change per month?
Lisa M.
My husband died in 1996. He was 66 yrs old. I was 41. I could not get ANY widows benefits, survival benefits….nothing until I am 62! I just don’t understand this.Why?
I have barely hung on to my house these last 20 yrs. I am 60 now. I became disabled in 2008 but still barely get enough to live on. Plus, I have to come up with over $2,000.00 more for my property taxes. I had to beg for help paying this last year, which was “a one time thing”. I don’t know how I am going to hang on much longer. When we do get a “raise” it goes right to our medicare premiums! If we get it one place they take it away someplace else.
The politicians ( our SERVANTS) are getting rich while we sink lower and lower into poverty! We need help fast!
R.F.
Hi Lisa Marie, a widow of a person who worked long enough under Social Security can be eligible for benefits at age 60 (age 50 if disabled). To find out if you qualify for benefits now, you can call our toll-free number 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). Representatives are available between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, but you will generally have a shorter wait time if you call later in the week. Thanks!
Karen H.
The increase is 5.00 a month , thanks to the republicans , but I guess it’s better then the 0 they have been giving us!! Yet ppl still vote against thier interest because of party , wake up!!
Karen H.
You mean this raise of 0.3 or 5.00 a month is ok with u? , we are over run by the senate and house with republicans so I guess we should be happy for this ..u ppl voting in states were there are dem seats available pls stop voting against ur interest we are starving while these republicans don’t even want to give us 1% pls
DC
Agreed! 1156 per month is hard to live on and pay for medical!
Ken C.
I have played my 12$ stop asking for more
Stephen M.
And you really want to know the plan of Obomba and Ole Killary Benghazi Libya Clinton Regime as for you think it’s bad now just Wait until She’s in the White House then you better panic as for they both Want to let in over 100,000 Serian Muslim Refugees aka ISIS or a Wolf in sheep’s clothing and Worse yet are you ready the Obomba administration and the Clinton. Foundation want to give these people Social security payments and Foodstamps to boot as for that is their plan if you don’t believe me then check it out on the Internet and there you will find the truth about both of their private Agenda’s as well their private War against us the American people .
ann
The only reason we are getting anything is because Obama is in office, if people would vote to get rid of the Republican congress we would get more.
We want get even Soc. Sec. if we get Trump.
Patricia S.
.03% is nothing but an insult to all seniors living on SS and SS disability.. How dare they insult our intelligence with such a deplorable amt. We are living at the poverty level as it is. Let them live on SS for 1 month and see if they can manage. Its nothing but a lot of bull
Jennifer C.
With the inflation rate of 1.5% the COLA is actually like a 1.2% cut in benefits. Great.
CLJ
Something is bad wrong with this picture. WE elect the government offices to work for US. WE pay their salary to help and benefit US. They work for US but they tell US what WE can and can’t do. They give themselves huge raises and take it out of OUR checks. Such a bad picture. The only way to fix it is to put them on the same plan we are on.
Drew
The system has to change!!! Know one can survive on a SS ck. I’ve taken care of both my parents since they retired, now that my father passed, my mother who doesn’t drive, still resides with me. I’m not complaining, just telling my side of the story…. it’s a slap in the face with the latest COLA .3%!?!?!?!? Sad sad sad
Suky
I agree. The fact that we are getting a ” raise” is ludicrous. The amount we will get won’t even cover the amount that Medicare is raising. Soo, seems like all politicians no matter what party don’t give a hoot and a holler for people that actually worked for years paid into the system with hopes of being able to at least afford housing and food in their “Golden Years”
lr
.03 Still leaves me right over the poverty level after 45 years of work, which means any kind of medicare help i get is gone and man somebody needs to kill me
lr
NOW
Susan A.
I agree I struggle every month off my disability check without the cola raise
Nancy B.
Amen!
Joe B.
For sure unless we can give those Congressbums a payoff of some kind we are doomed and so is SS.
Doug
As if your o.k. with such a miserable increase.my disability income is based on my past work background.i receive 900 mnth and with my blindness comes many obstacles of which arnt pertinent but my one point being do you really think .3 is an adaquit amount givin my obvious limits and family of three…my wife of 25yrs is challenged and i support her and our 18yr old daughter…all on 900 only…no help accept mainecare.medicare. what a joke the raise is…we still go hungry…
William R.
living in poverty, hell we are poor, living on social security disability you don’t get enough money to pay all your bills and the money you do get you will be broke by the end the month , you will end up borrow money from everybody and then on the 1 or the 3, you paying your bills and the money you borrow. So we are poor and living in poverty.
vickisea
The cola is never as much as the medicare part B increase is. Those who get the smallest social security fall futher behind with each cola.
R.F.
Should there be an increase in the Medicare Part B premium, the law contains a “hold harmless” provision that protects approximately 70 percent of Social Security beneficiaries from paying a higher Part B premium, in order to avoid reducing their net Social Security benefit. In addition, beneficiaries who have their Medicare Part B premiums paid by state medical assistance programs will see no change in their Social Security benefit. The state will be required to pay any Medicare Part B premium increase.
Tony M.
Either the hold harmless provision is a load of BS or the SSA has been cheating my mother for years. Her check has been reduced EVERY YEAR due to medicare premium increases!!!!
MPH
I think the gov should get paid once a month..
Martha R.
You do understand that 0.3 percent means that if you get, let’s say, 1288 a month in SS, that your raise will be 1288 x .003 = $4. Why do you think that a $4 raise in your SS check is worth even getting? It’s disgusting. They’re also raising the amount of money you’ll pay for Part B, so if you are in Part B, and they have been taking $105/month from your SS check, and they raise that to $109/month, then that $4 raise you just got doesn’t even cover it. You’re actually losing $1/month. Now if that makes sense to anyone………….
A.C.
Hi, Martha. Should there be an increase in the Medicare Part B premium, the law contains a “hold harmless” provision that protects approximately 70 percent of Social Security beneficiaries from paying a higher Part B premium, in order to avoid reducing their net Social Security benefit. In addition, beneficiaries who have their Medicare Part B premiums paid by state medical assistance programs will see no change in their Social Security benefit. The state will be required to pay any Medicare Part B premium increase. Information about Medicare changes for 2017, is available at http://www.medicare.gov.
Charlie
.Someone tell me why a billionaire who is 70 years of age and receiving Social Security they’re the ones who are getting the big increase in taking the money away from us why are people not talking about that
Nancy H.
You took the words right out of my mouth ! !
Larry s.
We have. Not had a raise in 7 years and all we are going to get is 4 dollars a month, our food has doubled power bills too on top of medical costs
lena p.
I now draw 10 dollars less a month since the raise because they went up on medicare cost
lena
i now get 10 dollars less because of the so called raise they raised the cost of medicare
Otis L.
I get $16 less after my “raise” due to Medicare increases.
Desgraciade
Disgrace!
Anne S.
I hope it’s not just Social Security SSI, but also SSDI, that gets a raise next year. I haven’t got a raise in soo long.
R.F.
Hi Anne. The 0.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will apply to –both- Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Read more about the Social Security Cost-of-Living adjustment for 2017.
Jaz
I don’t know what to do,..
I received a $3 COLA raise. $837 to $840 and a $6 raise on my suppliemental security income, $156 to $162…equalling an $11 raise in total right? Woohoo beats a blank…BUT WAIT…..as I read on they don’t count $20 of the SSDI which brings it down to $820…
Whereas, $837 + $156 i used to receive $993. Now with the 2017 INCREASES I actually receive $820+$162 which equals $983! I don’t fucking get it how does getting a raise of $11 give me $10 less money?
I’m already fucking homeless and scrapping by, by the damn skin left on my teeth with $993! $10 may see like any big deal to most but for me its a matter of one, 2, or even 3 meals per month. Livable u say? Well I’m living in my car, im 5’8″ & weigh only 110 lbs as it is! I dont do drugs or alcohol…can’t afford either, yet ppl look at me like I’m a crack head bcuz of my weight, my clothes, and my unkempt appearance’. How fair does that sound to u?
Why am I homeless u might ask? Because I lived in a nice 3 bdrm, low income apt with my two boys. Within 4 years it all fell apart. In ’03, i took care of my mom dying of lung cancer, while still working, she only lasted from July 7-sept19.
18 mos later my grandma, whom my mom had been a caregiver for, became terminal ally I’ll and needed round the clock care. Instead of sending her to a home or having strangers care for her, I talked with’ small circle of family members & we decided I wld quit my job to care for my grandmother. So my boys & I moved in with her, sooner than intended. My, now, ex husband, threw me and two little boys out of the house on Dec 13,2004 at midnight in the rain…& we went knocking in her door begging for her to let us in. Now I’m a mother, a caregiver, and going thru an ugly spiteful divorce.
My grandmother dies in Dec 2007, I try going back to work in 2008 but it was just too soon. I wrenched my back transferring a 300lb patient, but still having to support my children continued to work until about 2010 when it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to continue. Everything had gotten worse and I was put on permanent disability.,. Here it is 2016, almost 2017 & I’m getting an increase which is creating a decrease…! How does that work!?
I’m 57 yes old, living in my car with my dog on every low income list available, in mixing section 8, they all say it takes yrs which others have confirmed. I guess I just have to pray 8 don’t die b4 housing comes thru! And God only knows what Trump is going to do with ppm like me….aka poor…low income..below poverty level…the eye sores of america…the parasites of the country… That’s what we are to him. We’re all considered uneducated baffoons taking up space & oxygen from the more able bodied, productive, money making citizens of the U.S.A….
I am considered, “my kind” are considered a drain on society.what happens next is a scary thought!
I feel as tho I will die nothing more than a statistic who basically made room for someone else to either make it or leave another stain.
?????????????
Maddog
Big deal. They will then take the SS increase out of Medicare. That’s only $3 per 1,000. : (
Peter M.
What this article fails to mention is that Medicare premiums are increasing for 2017, from $104 to $109. For many of us, that increase is greater than the three tenths of one percent COLA , so our checks will actually be smaller.
By the way, I can’t imagine what is in that formula for the CPI-W; it’s obviously not devised with any real-life living expenses in mind of someone surviving on Social Security. In those years when we had no SSDI increase our prices shot up at the supermarket for basics like bread, milk, meat, chicken, fish, cereal and fresh vegetables. My rent was increased each year that according to the COLA there was no increase in living costs. I could go on, everthing went up year after year *except* gasoline, which markedly dropped. And the price of gas should not be even considered in the SSDI COLA because those of us living solely on Social Security can’t afford to drive other than to a grocery store and doctors’ offices anyway. So gas is a false indicator of living costs for retired seniors, at least those of us with no other source of income. It’s all very discouraging as it gets harder and harder to make ends meet by the end of each month, and yet we’re told that the cost of living has gone down.
2017 is going to be brutal.
Larry K.
About time!?? Really. No, it’s many years past time for getting rid of these greedy ‘deciders’ that take money from “our” paychecks and the hoard it for themselves to dole out at ‘their’ discretion. I’m sorry but ‘about time’ doesn’t cut it one little bit. What it is is shameful and criminal.
James
Go to Social Security Web Site – My spouses Social Security increased by exactly the same increase in her Medicare Premium. In other words, no pay raise at all …
Anonymous
I only received $4 increase……
Judy
Is this a joke?! A lousy 0.3%!!!!
SonnY
you got that right, words
SonnY
you got the words right out of my mouth Stacieee
Jennifer D.
Read this carefully; it says 3 tenths of one percent of your check. For me, this means a $3 increase per month. I don’t think that extra $3 truly addresses the increases in food costs and rent.
Jeff
Of course not. This “increase” is absolute BS. Do they really think I need an extra 6 CENTS a day? People a thousand years ago got bigger raises.
Charles M.
I sure hope that the government can support this Social Security increase of 0.3% for us. I would hate for the government to go broke! This is really a bad joke!
Maybe if the government would stop trying to be big brother then we might be able to have a bigger increase in Social Security in 2018!
carole d.
i agree. how much money does the government waste every day
Robert T.
Stacieee, unfortunately you won’t see a penny on your check. A .03% increase after being rounded to the nearest dollar won’t give you a penny! When Trump said ‘drain the swamp’ he was correct, but it won’t happen. It’s up to us to march on Washington and actually drag every single one of these scumbags out! There’s NO RAISE AGAIN!
Anthony P.
You really get no pay raise because they raised the amount of the Medicare so when all is said and done you will make the exact same as you did last year with no pay raise at all actually. I got my notice in the mail today and it states exactly that lol .
L E.
The greed of those who supposedly represent us is STAGGERING! PATHETIC!! AND EXTREMELY SELFCENTERED!!!!!
Farmer
Don’t get your hopes up. We just received a statement saying we had a .3% increase, but we will be making less by close to 5.00 a month. Absolute jerks.
kjp
Happy with your raise now?
SallyV
You think THAT is a raise? Are you crazy? Somehow I didn’t even get the measly $5 increase! My “new” payment is exactly the same!
I’m calling a foul on this BS!!
Thomas C.
And what is worse, those in congress or senate will still receive their same pay after retirement. That is bull …., they should not get anything, except social security as all others do.
Thomas
CONGRESS SHOULD REPAY THE 2.6 TRILLION DOLLARS THAT THEY TOOK OUT OF SS TO FUND OTHER THINGS, WE GET SCREWED AND DO NOT EVEN GET KISSED. THE RICH GET RICHER AND WE GET POORER. WHAT A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS.
R.F.
Hi Thomas. Social Security taxes collected from today’s workers pay the benefits of today’s retirees. Any funds in excess of what is needed to pay today’s benefits are invested in special issue, U.S. Government, interest-bearing securities. This investment – the purchase of U.S. Government securities – is what constitutes the “borrowing” that people are sometimes concerned about. Any funds that have been “borrowed” from the Social Security Trust Funds have always been paid back in full, plus interest. Please check out our Trust Fund Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.
frank l.
its a rip off i just got my new benifit in the mail for 2017 they raised the amount on the price we pay for medicare , so my check equals out to the excact same as last year the goverment is giving the seniors the shaft, while congress annd senate is giving them selves raises
susie
with what is being take out I will be making 3.70 less than what I am getting now.
Michael E.
I received a Statement for 2017 benefits. I’m on SSDI, and I see no difference from last year. Even Medicare stayed the same. So, what happened? Instead of waiting for 50 minutes on the phone, I thought I’d try this venue.
Jeff
They took out for Medicare, so your “increase” goes right back to the government. Yes, YOUR cost of living increase which is really just pennies a day can’t be used for increasing prices, even though I doubt you’d really need an extra $3.00 a month for your bills.
Kara
0.3% that is just a slap in the face! If my math is correct that’s about $3 for every $1,000 in benefits. Since I don’t receive anywhere near $1,000 a month I could care less about this “increase”. SMH! Now, if they’d give us the same sort of raises they gave themselves… then I’d be excited. ???
Jeff
It is a slap in the face. I’m now pulling in an extra 6 pennies a day. I’m going to use some of that to pay for my new financial consultant because I’m going to need help with this windfall. I don’t want to be another lottery winner who’s gone broke.
Tina
This is true.they don’t think about how are rent goes up.and our oppd bill.and our insurance not to mention are medicines.and food this is rotten not to get a raise.how can we pay bills or ever do anything.
Renee
Last time I got a $14 increase in my Social Security and they took almost $ 200 in food stamps and took away my dental. This year I got a whole $3 increase I wonder how much they’ll take away in another benefits? I would rather they kept the $3.
Leslie R.
You call a 0.3% increase an increase? Would not buy a container of milk. What a joke.
Bob
12/14/2016 – I just spoke with Social Security after being on hold for 50 minutes and the increase is .03%. Less than 1%. So don’t let the news feed you a 3% increase. It is not!
Linda B.
The COLA gave us $4.00 and the Food Stamp arm of the government octopus took back $2.00 whoop de Doooooo!
Tony
Now That the elections are over and you picked your white savior, I hope he cuts social security, medicare, and I hope they steal your 401K. You didn’t prepare yourself from the Republicans now bend over and take like a man.
Pat K.
We did not get an increase in our net because the Medicare insurance payment increased. My net did not change at all.
Amber
This past year, several politicians from the area I live in attempted to live for a short period of time on “minimum wage”. They had to do without personal vehicles and use public transit, buy their groceries from a typical small budget, etc. None of them lasted more than a few days. And I believe they had wanted to try this experiment for a whole month. I post this because those on SSA/SSI often have less to live on than minimum wage workers. So keep posting about this. Our government needs to wake up.
Xebbi
Can you live on $572.00 month? Come on help us poverty Medicare ppl
Glen
I am trying to figure out why if I got a 3% increase and so did my mom, why is the deposited monthly amount after medicare deduction going to be the same amount in 2017 as it was in 2016
R.F.
Hi Glen. For some beneficiaries, their Social Security increase may be partially or completely offset by increases in Medicare premiums. To read more about the COLA, tax, benefit and earning amounts for 2017, click here.
Wendy M.
Exactly. Only 0.3%?? Mine went up $4. How many more seniors will fall below the poverty line?
Ike
My $215.00 shows no increase because of Medicare increases.
Old. $215
New. $215
Sucks huh?
Joel R.
Politicians and the government in general ignore the needs of retirees in this nation. It is ironic that the USA is the richest nation in the world when there is so much poverty among our population. Especially among the retired people 🙁
Joel R.
The citizens six first major powers of the world retire and can enjoy their life with the exception of the Americans 🙁
Sandy
I got my notice today about the 3% increase and how it’ll affect me: I will get no increase at all – not even a single rotten dollar because the amount deducted from it for Medicare was raised. My monthly check will be exactly the same that it’s been for the past five or so years since I retired. I was so looking forward to a few extra dollars. The cost of everything – milk, bread, tissue paper, etc., keeps rising. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it because of the way they package things to hide it, but we’re paying a lot more for less. And my utilities (PG&E and water/sewer) have gone way up. I don’t even have a smart phone because I’m afraid I won’t be able to afford the monthly payments. This is very upsetting. Now I know what it feels like when senior citizens would complain. I used to feel so bad for them.
Jeff
Big difference between 3% and .03%. The increase is not 3%.
Becky
I get a 0.3 precent increase in 2017, then they take that amount out for my medicare, so I still get the same amount that I was getting last year, tell me how that helps me. My food cost more every time I go to the store, but I still have the same amount of money to pay for it as I did this year. I don’t understand.
diane
Have you seen how much the increase will be? .3% wish leaves us with the same amount as the past several years! Why did they even bother
Anna P.
I Agree and Add,At Taxpayers Expense. Yes we’re to get a 2017 SS Cola Of a Measley,0.3%. In my case,for No Apparent Reason,My Medicare Part B Premium is Increasing for 2017 and Guess What? Those Self-Serving Politicians Raised my Medicare Part B Premium to Eat Up My Entire SS Cola. I didn’t hear anything About this Medicare Increase anywhere,it was a Big Secret!
Jeff
What are they eating up, your extra $5 a month COLA?
James F.
I am already living in poverty
Barbara S.
And then you get the statement that shows how much more you will receive and you find out that the cola raise just covered the increase in medicare part b and the bottom line amount that you will receive is exactly what you have been receiving. Members of congress can vote themselves raises at any time and have. They also have the best medical plan in America. Considering how little was done by the congress in the last 8 years, they need to pay us their increases because they did not work.
Amy
Oh, thanks SS for such a wonderful increase. Gee, my monthly check is no higher, and ALL of my monthly expenses have greatly increased. Wow, you sure do look after us!
John
I got $3/no increase. Whoopee, can’t even buy a package of bacon. How much did Obama and the representatives in Congress get? Just wondering?!
Jeff
About time? If someone gets $1355 a month, their COLA is $5 a month, $1.25 a week, or a whopping $65 a year. If you’re like me and get just $650 a month, I now pull in an extra $1.96 a month or $23.63 a year OR SIX CENTS A DAY! That’s like getting less than a penny an hour raise! Sweatshop workers in China get more than that. I need to find me a financial consultant to help me with this windfall. I’m just gonna kick back and start counting my pennies. Why even bother? What the heck are 6 pennies a day going to do for me? My rent doesn’t increase from $900 a month to $901.96. It goes from $900 to $925 or $950. In a whole year, I’ll earn enough to pay an extra $25 in rent. Does the government really believe that a .03% increase will cover rising costs? $25 a year increase!
Luis
They should give us more cuz we can not live on our own even if we wanted to…u can only go to McDonald’s to get one burger and thats it….just wish we would get more but they wanna live better than us
Fahmi N.
I am at loss what to do, got my Jan. 2017 payment and the COLA was not reflected in the amount received. I am contacting Federal Benefits, here in Jerusalem, to see what happened and how it can be corrected. My bank is useless can’t verify anything.
R.F.
Hi Fahmi, please contact your local U.S. embassy for any assistance or other specific questions in regards to your Social Security benefits.
Sarah J.
I couldn’t believe I only received a $2.00 rise. What happen to the $23.00 rise I use to get every year. Last year I received nothing. I should get more money I have Lupus.
Joe S.
What raise, check your disability money for January it is the same as last years.
Desertgal
No increase here. Mine went down $6.80 a month. Medicare and prescription is the same. So why?
Bill L.
Ya the Obama admin.have hurt the people who help build this country
Gary
I figure that my increase for 2017 might (and even this is highly doubtful) buy a hamburger, a small order of fries, and a small coke at McDonald’s. And even THAT is doubtful. Which is why I have returned to work beginning in 2013. I am currently working full-time (40 hours per week) for a local rental car company. I plan to continue working until I am either dead or else no longer able to work. It is totally impossible for anyone to retire unless they are rich or else have more than one income. My unmarried son also lives with me. I even lost a couple of pensions that I was entitled to when former employers went out of business. Younger generations should not fool themselves into thinking that they will be able to retire. If they don’t become quite wealthy during their working years, they will have to do what I am doing right now.
Alice S.
Here’s how it goes for me.. I get food assistance, survivors benefits and my apartment is HUD assistance. I can now switch to my second husbands SS, I will get roughly $100.00 more..however my rent will increase and my food benefits will decrease. The system is screwy If I get a part-time job all of the above will be done again. There is no way I can get above the poverty level. : ‘(
Patricia H.
I am so disgusted with our government that gives us only .003 percent of increase for a cost of living. This is an insult to injury we are just getting by on what we have and to give us. 003% is a slap in the face. Well the government gives them selves substantial raises each year and they’re not even in for 5 hours per week if that. Elderly people should get more we busted our homes all our lives and some of us fall on hard times and to not continue to work while a slap in the face is given to us as we age with the measly not even 1% or even 1/2% of an increase. This is supposed to be the best country to live in the take care of their aged people, well I got news for you they do not. Waiting to get housing takes 10 years so people that need housing need to pay over $1200 a month in live on nothing.
Lorraine G.
That is not enough, auto insurance increase, rent increase, milk increase, almost everything we use today has gone up in price for the past 4 years. We should not have Medicare taken out of our checks. WhIle Congress gets there’s free, this way we could afford a suplement.
Steven D.
I personally think the COLA,for seniors is a slap in the face.. seniors might be getting older but, not DUMBER… We keep falling behind. We are no where near what COLA should be..
Cecilie
I was put on social security disability and after all my years of working I get $654 a month. I do a lot of dumpster diving myself. Lol I’m way below the poverty limits.
Sandy
I want to know where all the monry that was taken out of my paycheck for the last 30 years has gone. The govrtnment are Robbers why give us a raise at all. They should all be fired and a new crew put in office. Starting with the President. They should be ashamed of their self. All these people should be forced to retire at the age of 65. All their big bucks they make when they leave office should be cut by 3/4. Icwuld like to put my $2.00 raise in an envelope and send it to Washington and tell them if they can’t do better then that to shove it. As this is an insult to me as I have worked hard for the last 30 years as many other Seniors have to be cheated.
Sassy
Big whoopty doo! I might be able to buy a loaf of bread with what I got!
STEVE W.
SCREW THE OLD PEOPLE – THEY ARE SCREWING THE YOUNG PEOPLE – WE SHOULD DO AWAY WITH SOCIAL SECURITY – THIS IS A RIGGED SYSTEM
B L.
For the last two years , my social security has gone down , due to increase in prescription D , and Medicare increase . No raise for me , keep going backward . Draw
768.00 now . Same as people who never worked , can’t get help, make too much .
Not fair to me
Michelle M.
Has anyone actually recieved this increase because my husband, Mom, stepdad , nor father have had any increase in their social security at all this year and we are halfway to March?
J. E.
Did your check go up in January? Mine neither!
Barbara S.
Totally agree. These policies are bad for seniors
Muldoon55
The increase only amounts to a couple dollars a mpnth
Muldoon55
The increase only amounts to a couple dollars a month
Shirley B.
The raise in my Medicare wiped out the raise so I’m getting $6.00 less SS this year than last. Some raise. Screwed no matter what. That $6.00 bought two of my medicines.
ELIZABETH P.
Our Government has no SHAME! We choose them to care of us,but only thing they do, to get rich.When they live th Gov.almost all of them are MILLIONSIRES.AND, we the people who votred for them became under the powerty line. This is not America, to raise soc.sec,with 0,2% in 2017, O% in 2016. You call excommunist countries a third country. WELL, they raise sic,sec,benefits in 2017, 5% and from July1st. one other 15-20%. I never saw in this so called wonder USA a raise higher theno,3%. So, shame of you USA government. you get rich and us, poorer year by year. You shouls showel that 0,2%
Dee D.
I can’t believe the “o boy, Thank You”, comments. The Government Gives us a 3.00 2016 Raise then my Food Stamps decrease 2.00, wow 2016 I got a extra buck. When food PRICES for 1 has doubled, not to mention the PRICES on everything needed to maintain a roof over your head has also doubled. But the govt. don’t give us a raise when that part of living cost goes up. We only get raise’s when the price of gasoline goes up. Now we get another raise, but guess what your MEDICARE premiums have just been increased. With these, “so grateful” comments , no wonder the GOVT. keeps starving us, slaves were treated better than we are. At least when they got sick the Master paid the bill, the Master put clothes on their back, the Master gave them good healthy food. My lousy 675.00 pays my rent & light bill. My 98.00 food stamps, buys the cheapest preservative enriched , non organic, food, & forget about getting any hygiene products to clean ones body, teeth, & hair. I worked 2 & 3 jobs for last 10 yrs, because of the right to work law in Idaho pays 7.50 to start then 10 yrs later a whole 13.00. I have worked 45 yrs. being on unemployment twice for 6 wks. & Welfare once long enough to have Carpel tunnel surgery. On that low of pay forget the IRA any money left from bills went to medical ins. Now I have to live like people do in the 3rd worlds, This is what the golden years are about? This is the AMERICAN DREAM? I Have Stargardts disease, (going blind) Medicare does not cover vision, so I am & will be paying 134.00 for nothing, for I have no other health issues. Have not been to the Doctor for 20 years, but yet my MEDICARE PREMIUMS INCREASE ?? We are nothing to the Govt., but a bunch of slave Cattle. I am some how going to borrow 500.00 & cash in my BIRTH CERTIFICATE, & pay off all my debts, & collect all the millions the GOVT. made off of it. Here’s is a link that tells you all about the illegal contract, when we were born, entered us into without without being able to give consent, that Roosevelt & all the presidents & Govt, our doing to this day. Here is the link If you are tired of being their slave & the inhuman ways they force us to live, Here is the link, to get your FREEDOM back & the millions of $$$$ they owe to me & you. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_productid=234357334&rt=nc&LH_BIN=
Kathleen b.
They should max out their benefits just like we have to but no, they get their full pay as their retirement . No other place I know of votes their own raise . This needs to change as they only work part time with full time pay.
Michael E.
The Republican party under Trump is fixing to cut our Social Security Benefits by up to 1/3 of the present payout. Then the retirement age is going to increase to 70 years of age. Social Security is not an Entitlement, each working person pays for their own Social Security with each pay check. The facts are that Medicare is also paid by the individual and once they retire, Medicare Part B is paid for taking the money out of our retirement check.
How can Rep. Paul Ryan and Congressman Mitch McConnell reduce our retirement funds by 1/3 and increase the age to 70 years? Also, the Republican party has BORROWED 2.37 Trillion Dollars from the Social Security funds and have not paid it back yet. So instead of paying it back, they are going to reduce the Social Security Payment to us by up to 1/3 and increase the retirement age to 70%. Medicare is a one payer plan that has worked exceptionally well, why remove it and privatize it and put it onto a Voucher system. This will only cost many lives. There is an old saying, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
When is the Republican party going to repair the 2.37 Trillion dollars that they borrowed?
John
Nothing will change. They will keep giving us low to nothing increases. People Washington saying how are looking out seniors & elderly, I would like to know when are they going to start doing this.
Lacy l.
We are already below poverty level, who cares, as far as their pockets are overflowing and they are wasting government money which was collected by our working class taxes.
Rich gets richer and poor gets poorer.
GUADLUPE G.
IAM OAK OFF LIVE IVE LOST BENIFITS FROM FROM 2010 YR $544.00 IN 2017 YR I WILL WAS AWDRED A $744.00 MONTHLY A CASE I WENT STTAE HOSPITAL FIVE YEARS WERE ALL SENOARY FEDREAL GOV ALL DO STARED AT ME DONE NOTHIG WRONG TOO EM ONLY LOVEABEL AND KINNESS TO EM FERDERAL WOAMN AT THE OOIFFCE SATLLEDING ME FOR NOTHING TIILL 5 PM