Social Security Increase Freeze Next Year

The following is a summary of Social Security and related Medicare developments taken from News Bureau Business, A Minute With Elder Law Expert Richard Kaplan.

• For the first time since 1975, there will be no cost-of-living increase for Social Security retirement benefits next year.
• The cause: the consumer price index used for increasing Social Security benefits went down this year.
• Affect on Medicare Part B: premiums cannot be increased for the majority of beneficiaries because premium increases cannot exceed social security benefit increases.
• The House of Representatives has passed a measure to freeze Medicare premiums for all beneficiaries next year.

Special thanks to Richard Kaplan (Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of Law, University of Illinois College of Law) for bringing this to my attention.