The Social Security Administration (SSA) has released its 2022 update that highlights all of the changes to the Social Security program for the upcoming year. Included in this update was the Cost-of-Living-Adjustment, or COLA, which was announced as 5.9% for 2022.
The COLA is an annual increase in social security and supplemental security income to account for the inflation faced by beneficiaries in 2021. The 5.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment will begin with benefits payable to Social Security beneficiaries in January 2022. Increased payments to SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2021. (Note: some people receive both Social Security and SSI benefits).
Where Can I Find the Announcement? The SSA issued a press release announcing the COLA increase for the upcoming year on the SSA’s Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information webpage.
Changes to Medicare Premiums For Social Security beneficiaries receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute their new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2022 are announced. Final 2022 benefit amounts will be communicated to beneficiaries in December through the mailed COLA notice and my Social Security’s Message Center. Information about Medicare changes for 2022, when announced, will be available at www.medicare.gov. Owners must also consider changes to Medicare premiums paid by elderly/disabled families when calculating medical expense deductions.
How Does the COLA Effect How I Process Recertifications? SSA updates to data in the EIV system are only made periodically. Social security benefits that include the COLA are not available from SSA for uploading into EIV until the end of the calendar year. Therefore, when processing recertifications that include social security benefits with an effective date of January 1, February 1, March 1 and April 1, owners must define the manner in which the COLA will be factored into the calculation of the SSA benefit, and the method of verification that will used to support the calculation. O/As must refer to the HUD Handbook 4350.3 REV-1, Change 4, Chapter 9 for further guidance on acceptable methods to determine annual income.