Social Security benefits to rise 5.9 percent for roughly 70 million people in 2022 [View all]

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

The Social Security Administration announced Wednesday that its beneficiaries will see a 5.9 percent increase in their benefit checks starting next year — the largest boost to benefits in close to four decades. The adjustment will be made for 64 million Social Security beneficiaries as well as 8 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries. Some Americans receive both benefits.

The cost-of-living increase, which will impact roughly 70 million people starting in late December and January, is tied to a measure of inflation that has surged this year as prices rise in a U.S. economy emerging from the coronavirus pandemic. Experts caution that millions of seniors will in reality see substantially less than a 6 percent bump, because Medicare Part B premiums are deducted from Social Security beneficiaries’ checks and are tied to seniors’ income.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday that prices rose 0.4 percent in September compared to August. Overall, prices are up 5.4 percent are up over the last year. The “cost of living adjustment” that determines Social Security payment hikes is based on a different measure of inflation, but they both capture similar phenomenon in the economy.

The Social Security benefit increase has averaged about 1.7 percent over the last 10 years. This year’s increase amounts to the biggest since 1982, experts say. “This is welcome but inadequate — healthcare and prescription drug costs have been going up way faster than seniors’ cost of living. People’s Social Security benefits have been eroding," Nancy Altman, co-director of Social Security Works, a nonprofit group.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/10/13/social-security-inflation-adjustment/

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Saw it buried in the BLS CPI report and did guess correctly - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2812405

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W)
increased 5.9 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 269.086
(1982-84=100). For the month, the index rose 0.3 percent prior to seasonal
adjustment.