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<p class="MsoNormal">Social Security and Medicare 2020 monthly premium <o:p></o:p></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">| The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced on Oct. 13 that its annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be 1.3 percent, an average boost to retirement benefits of
about $20 per month for individuals starting in January.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">The modest gain for monthly benefits is the latest in a decade of meager COLA increases. Social Security COLAs have averaged a 1.65 percent increase annually the past decade, with
no increase at all to benefits in 2016. The increase that went into effect in January 2020 was 1.6 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">“Today’s announcement of a 1.3 percent COLA increase — while modest — is needed to help Social Security beneficiaries and their families try to keep up with rising costs,” says AARP
Chief Executive Officer Jo Ann Jenkins. "The guaranteed benefits provided by Social Security and the COLA increase are more crucial than ever as millions of Americans continue to face the one-two punch of the coronavirus’s health and economic consequences.
In fact, thanks to recently enacted changes supported by AARP to lower the Medicare premium for next year, more seniors will at least see a small monthly COLA."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:21.0pt;font-family:inherit;color:#333333">Why so low?<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">COLAs have been low because inflation has been tame. The annual COLA is based on the change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from
the third quarter of the previous year to the third quarter of the current year. The CPI-W represents the prices paid by workers for a basket of goods and services. It is not based on a market basket that reflects what retirees purchase — the CPI-E — which
represents a market basket that better reflects retiree spending, such as higher costs for health care.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">This year's COLA calculation looks at the average CPI-W index numbers for July, August and September of 2019 and compares them with the numbers for the same three-month span in
2020. The percentage change between the two quarterly averages is the COLA for the following year starting in January. If there's no change, or if there's a decline in the CPI-W, there's no increase in Social Security benefits.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">Since Congress initiated <a href="https://eur06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarp.org%2Fretirement%2Fsocial-security%2Finfo-2020%2Fcolas-history.html&data=04%7C01%7C%7C9888601c0f8b4036cccc08d872f15d63%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637385728292063625%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=tglKnpX4rB8xL5cJXehBxr9ny8CnYTdaTNL4kKIdFwo%3D&reserved=0"><span style="color:#2F7899">automatic
annual COLAs</span></a> in 1975, there have been three years in which benefits didn't increase at all: 2010, 2011 and 2016. The single biggest increase, 14.3 percent, went into effect in January 1981.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">Social Security is <a href="https://eur06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarp.org%2Fretirement%2Fsocial-security%2Fquestions-answers%2Fhow-is-social-security-funded%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7C9888601c0f8b4036cccc08d872f15d63%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637385728292073620%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=SUBDLFhyHzxpNwMI%2FD%2BPjeHIiHczORFdLjoc2i5Uvio%3D&reserved=0"><span style="color:#2F7899">funded
by a payroll tax</span></a> of 12.4 percent on eligible wages — employees pay 6.2 percent and employers pay the other 6.2 percent (with self-employed workers paying the entire 12.4 percent). Next year, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security
tax will increase to $142,800 from $137,700. The money paid in by today's workers goes to cover current benefits, with any excess going into the Social Security trust fund.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">Because of the growing number of Social Security beneficiaries — and, in part, a decrease in payroll taxes collected because of <a href="https://eur06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarp.org%2Fwork%2Fjob-search%2Finfo-2020%2Fseptember-unemployment-rate.html&data=04%7C01%7C%7C9888601c0f8b4036cccc08d872f15d63%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637385728292073620%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=qBq2bPY5BoqjRAgmo98DJFBn%2BXp9bkXTLnLO84D2dDE%3D&reserved=0"><span style="color:#2F7899">pandemic-driven
job losses</span></a> — the Social Security system is facing increased stress. In their annual report, Social Security's trustees estimated that the trust fund for retired workers and their survivors will run short of money in 2034. A more pessimistic forecast
from the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the reserves in the trust fund for retired workers and their survivors will be <a href="https://eur06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarp.org%2Fretirement%2Fsocial-security%2Finfo-2020%2Fbenefits-trust-fund-runs-out-by-2031.html&data=04%7C01%7C%7C9888601c0f8b4036cccc08d872f15d63%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637385728292083614%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=DtrQINVCkjj5xxbQjY9lQNwQgIhSmmshYtFY3FsCHbA%3D&reserved=0"><span style="color:#2F7899">depleted
in 2031</span></a>. Even at that point, over three-quarters of benefits could still be paid out from incoming payroll taxes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<span style="font-size:21.0pt;font-family:inherit;color:#333333">Social Security and Medicare Part B premiums<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">Most Social Security recipients will see their COLA reduced by an increase in the <a href="https://eur06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarp.org%2Fhealth%2Fmedicare-insurance%2Finfo-2020%2Fwhat-is-medicare.html&data=04%7C01%7C%7C9888601c0f8b4036cccc08d872f15d63%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637385728292093608%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=EyzSLaMKdzlZhXocsSU8foievZVm8X%2FSA4ZwB0FZRoM%3D&reserved=0"><span style="color:#2F7899">Medicare
premium</span></a>. Medicare Part B premiums, which cover physician visits and outpatient medical services, are deducted directly from Social Security benefit payments. The 2021 monthly premium for Medicaid Part B recipients is expected to be announced soon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">Under a recent change in law championed by AARP, the Medicare premium increase for this year will be reduced, thus preserving a COLA for most beneficiaries. Initially, higher emergency
Medicare spending due to COVID-19 was projected to lead to very high Medicare premiums. Had the law not been changed, most beneficiaries would have seen their COLA wiped out by Part B premium increases, which for some beneficiaries were projected to be as
high as $25 to $50 per month. Even with the change in law, the increases in payments to most Social Security beneficiaries are expected to be quite small.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">“Social Security is arguably the most important and successful program in our nation’s history, providing vital benefits that individuals earn
through a lifetime of hard work and contributions to the system,” Jenkins says. “It is the largest source of retirement income for most Americans and provides nearly all income (90 percent or more) for 1 in 4 seniors. AARP will continue advocating for bipartisan
solutions to help ensure the long-term solvency and adequacy of the Social Security program, to maintain its dedicated funding stream and to protect the hard-earned benefits of millions of Americans and their families.</span>costs<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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