As part of Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) meant to fight inflation, recipients received a 2.8% boost to their benefits beginning Jan. 1. While any COLA is better than none, many seniors were undoubtedly disappointed in the relatively modest boost.
To add a bit of an insult to injury, changes to Medicare mean many seniors didn't even get that big a boost to their take-home benefit amount.
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If seniors enroll in Social Security and Medicare at the same time, their Part B premiums are automatically taken from their monthly benefits. This means increases can reduce the actual dollar amount someone sees from the COLA.
This year, the premium for Part B increased by $17.90 to $202.90 per month. Take someone whose monthly benefit was $2,000 last year and increased by $56 this year (a 2.8% increase). The actual dollar increase from the COLA would actually be around $38 after accounting for the higher Part B premium.
Other Medicare costs, like Part B's deductible (increased by $26 to $283), and costs associated with Part A, Part C, and Part D, may not be taken directly from someone's Social Security check, but they can potentially cancel out how much someone may have received for the COLA.
