Benefits Highlights

Social Security Announces 2.7 Percent Benefit Increase for 2005

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits increase automatically each year based on the rise in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), from the third quarter of the prior year to the corresponding period of the current year. This year's increase in the CPI-W was 2.7 percent.

The 2.7 percent Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that more than 47 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2005. Increased payments to 7 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will begin on December 30.

The SSA has developed a fact sheet that shows the effect of the various automatic adjustments. SSA factsheet.

Medicare Premiums and Coinsurance Rates for 2005

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) is the federal agency, which administers the Medicare Program. Currently, Medicare, provides coverage to approximately 40 million Americans. Medicare is the national health insurance program for:

• People age 65 or older;
• Some people under age 65 with disabilities;
• People with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), which is permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant.

The CMS has posted a listing of the Medicare premium, deductible, and coinsurance rates that will be in effect in 2005. Medicare premiums and coinsurance rates for 2005.

Terri Uttermohlen