[Nfbmo] Social Security Increase for 2015

[Eugene S Coulter]

Social Security announced on Wednesday that benefits will increase by 1.7% in January of 2015.
This includes SSI, Social Security for the Elderly, and Social Security Disability payments.
To figure the approximate amount your benefits will increase:
If you receive SSI or Social Security Disability but are not Medicare eligible  multiply your current check by1.017 to get your approximate amount. If you get a partial SSI check you will get an increase but this method will not work.
If you receive Social Security benefits for the elderly or Disabled and are on Medicare Part B and/or Medicare D add these two premiums to your current check amount and multiply that amount by 1.017 to get your new amount. For most blind persons   we pay the $104.95 Medicare part B premium alone which is staying the same for 2015. 
Example: if you get a check for disability of $1,081.00 with a monthly premium of  $104.95 for Medicare Part B: Add $1081 to the $104.95 Medicare Part B premium =1185.95 and multiply this by the Cola of 1.017 = $1206.00 gross benefit minus the Medicare premium of $104.95 resulting in an increase of $20.00 (Increases are always in whole dollars). 
This will get you to within a dollar either way because of special rounding rules that SSA uses  that are not the ones you learned in school. Also, some folks pay higher premiums for Medicare Part B so this will not exactly work for them.
HTH without confusion
Gene