Did you know that about 70 million Americans will get a 8.7% increase in monthly Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2023? This is great news! On average, people will see approximately a $145 increase in Social Security monthly benefits, and a $70+ increase in Supplemental Security Income benefits starting in January 2023.
While this is a significant increase, it is a result of high inflation that has made securing one’s basic needs for food, medicine, rent and transportation even harder for those with low incomes. Next year’s higher cost of living adjustment (COLA) will help off-set some of this challenge.
Social Security will mail COLA notices throughout the month of December to retirement, survivors, and disability beneficiaries, SSI recipients, and representative payees. If you, or someone you know wants to find out their new benefit amount sooner, they can securely obtain their Social Security COLA notice online using the Message Center in their personal Social Security account. This information will be available in early December, before the notice will be mailed. Make sure Social Security has your current mailing address. You don’t want to miss getting your notification.
For more information, see Social Security’s blog, Social Security Benefits Increase in 2023.
Note: for those beneficiaries on Medicare and Medi-Cal, they will be required to enroll into a Medi-Cal managed care plan effective January 1, 2023 and will also be receiving notices this month and next month. See our article, Upcoming Medi-Cal Changes in 2023 for more information.