Social Security Benefits to Increase in 2019
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: November 3, 2023
Each year we announce the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Usually there is an increase in the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit amount people receive each month, starting the following January. By law, federal benefits increase when the cost of living rises, as measured by the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).
The CPI-W rises when prices increase for the things the average consumer buys. This means that when prices for goods and services we purchase become more expensive, on average, the COLA increases monthly benefit levels and helps you keep up with the changing cost of living.
As a result, more than 67 million Americans will see a 2.8 percent increase in their Social Security and SSI benefits in 2019.
January 2019 marks other changes that will happen based on the increase in the national average wage index. For example, the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security payroll tax, as well as the retirement earnings test exempt amount, will change in 2019.
Want to know your new benefit amount as soon as possible? In December 2018, we will post Social Security COLA notices online for retirement, survivors, and disability beneficiaries who have a personal my Social Security account. You will be able to view and save these COLA notices securely via the Message Center inside my Social Security.
Be the first to know! Sign up for or log in to your personal my Social Security account today and choose email or text under “Message Center Preferences” to receive courtesy notifications so you won’t miss your electronic COLA notice!
This year, you will still receive your COLA notice by mail. In the future, you will be able to choose whether you receive your notice online instead of on paper. Online notices will not be available to representative payees, individuals with foreign mailing addresses, or those who pay higher Medicare premiums due to their income. We plan to expand the availability of COLA notices to additional online customers in the future.
You can find more information about the 2019 COLA here.
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Tags: Cost of living adjustment, my Social Security, my Social Security account, Social Security benefits
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Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications
Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications
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Michael S.
I only hope my Medicare doesn’t go up $40 to off-set any real COLA increase.
Ray F.
Hello Michael, Information about Medicare changes for 2019, when announced, will be available at http://www.medicare.gov. For Social Security beneficiaries receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute their new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2019 are announced. Final 2019 benefit amounts will be communicated to beneficiaries in December through the mailed COLA notice and my Social Security Message Center. Thanks!
David M.
My drug plan Part D Medicare went from $20 to $25. So let me think a little , I think it went up over %20 percent? Whats this 2.8 % percent bullshit about. Don,t these people that come up with this 2.8% know anything about Math. The great Fleecing of America, Quit giving it to every one that hasn’t paid into the system.
John
Just tell us the increase and cut out all the hype about it
Ray F.
Hello John, for more details about the new COLA, visit http://www.ssa.gov/cola. Thanks!
Kathie D.
Does people on disability get a raise
Ray F.
The increase applies to all beneficiaries, Kathie. The 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 62 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2019. Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 31, 2018.
For more details about the new COLA, visit: http://www.ssa.gov/cola. Thanks!
jb s.
But the medicare increase will take care of the increase..so what is new
Ray F.
Information about Medicare changes for 2019, when announced, will be available at http://www.medicare.gov. For Social Security beneficiaries receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute their new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2019 are announced.
For more details about the new COLA, visit: http://www.ssa.gov/cola. Thanks!
JANE M.
I assume the increase will also apply to the Medicare cost and therefore be null. So pathetic.
Ray F.
Hello Jane. Information about Medicare changes for 2019, when announced, will be available at http://www.medicare.gov. For Social Security beneficiaries receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute their new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2019 are announced.
For more details about the new COLA, visit: http://www.ssa.gov/cola. Thanks!
Terry H.
It’s nice to get an increased Social Security Benefit, however it would be nice to know if there will also be an increased cost of Medicare, so it can be determined what the actual net Benefit will be to Seniors.
Ray F.
Thank you for your comment, Terry. Information about Medicare changes for 2019, when announced, will be available at http://www.medicare.gov. For Social Security beneficiaries receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute their new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2019 are announced.
Final 2019 benefit amounts will be communicated to beneficiaries in December through the mailed COLA notice and my Social Security Message Center. Thanks!
Linda D.
I read on line that we will get a 2.8 increase, in Jan. Will this increase go to me or the cost of medicare? Thank you.
Ray F.
Hello Linda. The 2.8 COLA increase is applied to your Social Security benefits, information about Medicare changes for 2019, when announced, will be available at http://www.medicare.gov. For Social Security beneficiaries receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute their new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2019 are announced. Final 2019 benefit amounts will be communicated to beneficiaries in December through the mailed COLA notice and my Social Security Message Center. Thanks!
John
You said this so get your act together and announce the change for 2019 at the same time. Oh is that over your head?
Vonda V.
Hi John. Social Security does not administer the Medicare program, it is administered by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). You can go to http://www.medicare.gov or call Medicare directly at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) for their 2019 changes.
Bernardo R.
Does the increase in Social Security make any difference? Medicare will come along and increase the monthly cost for them like they did last time we got a 2% Social Security increase!!!
Ray F.
Hello Bernardo. For Social Security beneficiaries receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute their new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2019 are announced. Final 2019 benefit amounts will be communicated to beneficiaries in December through the mailed COLA notice and my Social Security Message Center.
Information about Medicare changes for 2019, when announced, will be available at http://www.medicare.gov. Thanks!
Dennis
Please quit referring to the citizens and other people in this country as ‘consumers.’ It’s a belittling, dehumanizing term, with parasitic overtones. I would like to meet the bitter sot who first spit the term through his teeth as a measure of his peers and poke him in the eye. Then I’d lecture the ignorant who continue to mindlessly use the term, as I will now do. The people of this country do much, much more than consume. We produce. We protect. We nurture. We create and invent. We support. We love. We pass on our traditions. We raise children. We improve. We support each other. We pay the lion’s share of taxes. We defend. We punish. Government needs to have more respect for the people it serves, and one of the first things it needs to do in recognition of this imperative is to stop referring to the greatest citizen family on this planet as consumers.