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Will your COLA increase amount to $1?
There’s been a fair amount of rejoicing over the recently announced 2% COLA increase for next year, and most reports are now saying that Medicare’s base Part B premium will hold steady at $134 per month. But that’s not necessarily great news for those who, thanks to the “hold harmless” provision, are now paying less than $134 for Medicare. For those folks, many of whom are now paying $109 for Medicare, any COLA increase in their Social Security benefit will be applied to their Medicare premium to bring it up to the current Part B amount. In real dollars, that means that about $25 of the average $26 COLA increase would go to Medicare, leaving about a dollar for you. In this article appearing in The Street, Robert Powell explains why Social Security’s 2018 COLA may really be just a dollar. Click here to read more.