Social Security checks to rise 2 percent in 2018

66 million Americans collect benefits; increase is the largest since 2012

Washington — Social Security checks are going up 2 percent in 2018, the U.S. government announced Friday. It’s the first substantial raise in years. More than 66 million Americans receive Social Security payments. Most recipients are seniors over age 65, but some payments also go to the severely disabled and orphans. The average check is currently $1,377 a month, meaning next year’s increase will raise the typical payment by $27 a month.

For Sandy Lacoss of Woodstock, Vt., the pay bump can’t come soon enough.

“We need more money to live on,” said Lacoss, a 71-year-old retired cleaner. “My rent goes up every year. I really can’t afford it.”

Social Security checks rose 0.3 percent in 2017. In 2016, the checks didn’t go up at all, leaving many seniors saying they are struggling to keep up on their bills. There hasn’t been an increase greater than 2 percent since 2012.

The raise is a cost of living adjustment (COLA) that’s meant to keep up with higher costs of everything from rent to medications. But many seniors think the government’s calculations are flawed.

“If you polled seniors, 10 out of 10 would say the COLA is not keeping up with their costs,” said Gary Koenig, vice president of financial security for AARP.

But others say the COLA formula, which has been used since 1975, is fair.

“Seniors are not getting slighted,” said Charles Blahous, who served as the public trustee for Social Security and Medicare from 2010 through 2015 and is a researcher at the Mercatus Center.

The COLA isn’t meant to be a merit increase, Blahous said. He points out that years where there’s been no increase in the COLA are actually good for seniors because those were years when prices weren’t rising (or even fell), yet seniors don’t get their checks reduced. The 2018 rise is larger than in past years, partly because Hurricanes Harvey and Irma caused a jump in gas and other prices in September.