The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently announced a 2% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for beneficiaries of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Benefits. This 2% increase marks the largest COLA increase since 2012 when the COLA increase was 3.2%, and according to the SSA’s October 13, 2017 press release the increase is expected to affect the benefits of approximately 61 million Social Security recipients and 8 million SSI beneficiaries.

For individual SSI beneficiaries, the COLA increase translates to an increase from $8,830.84 per year in 2017 (a monthly benefit of $735) to $9,007.46 per year in 2018 (a monthly benefit of $750.) Correspondingly, the one-third reduction assessed to an SSI recipient whose food and shelter are provided for by a source other than the SSI recipient has increased from a $245 maximum reduction in 2017 to a $250 maximum reduction in 2018.

For more information concerning the 2018 COLA increase visit: https://www.ssa.gov/cola/  and https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/colafacts2018.pdf

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