If you are on Social Security, you probably heard that you were going to get a 2.8% Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2025. So, when your first check arrives in January, you may be very surprised to see that your payment did not increase by 2.8%.
While it's disappointing, there is a good reason for it. Here's why your check is probably going to be smaller than expected this month (and for the rest of 2026).
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Why did your Social Security check not go up by 2.8%?
Seniors who are on Social Security and who are on Medicare typically have their Medicare premiums withdrawn from their retirement benefits check.
Unfortunately, this means that if Medicare premiums increase, the extra amount you have to pay ends up reducing the value of your COLA.
The good news is, hold harmless provisions mean that you can't lose more than your COLA amount due to rising premiums. In other words, your benefit doesn't go down if the premium increase beats the COLA. However, the bad news is that you don't see the full benefit increase you may be expecting based on the COLA announcement when premiums rise.
In 2026, like in most years, your Medicare premiums did increase. So, if you are 65 and up, you can expect that part of your COLA benefit will disappear as the money is taken to cover your added Medicare premium expenses.
How much of your COLA will go to Medicare premium increases?
Medicare premiums increased by a pretty substantial amount this year:
- Premiums were $185 per month in 2025.
- Premiums are increasing to $202.90 in 2025.
- That's a $17.90 increase, or close to a 10% increase.
If you were collecting around $2,000 in monthly Social Security benefits last year (pretty close to the national average), a 2.8% COLA would translate to about a $56 raise. Losing $17.90 of that is a substantial reduction in the raise you collect. So, if your check is noticeably smaller, this is the reason why.
What can retirees do about a smaller-than-expected Social Security raise?
Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about your COLA increasing your check less than you had hoped. You just need to be prepared for the impact that Medicare's rising premiums will have on the size of your take-home payment.
Since many retirees report that COLAs are smaller than they should be, it's also important to make sure that you are investing your retirement funds as wisely as possible so you can maintain the value of the account and safely take the withdrawals you need to supplement your Social Security income when these benefits seem like they don't quite go far enough.
