3.2 Percent Hike In Social Security Benefits Set For 148K VA Residents

VIRGINIA — The estimated 148,372 Social Security recipients in Virginia will get a 3.2 percent cost-of-living adjustment next year, the Social Security Administration said recently.

About 71 million people nationwide — including retirees, disabled people and children — receive Social Security benefits. The average Social Security recipient will get a pay bump of about $50 a month, starting in January.

That will affect the 130,898 Virginians receiving SSI who have vision problems and/or are disabled, and the 19,855 recipients who are under the age of 18. According to the Social Security Administration, 91,475 of recipients in the state are between the ages of 18 and 64. There are 37,042 residents who are 65 years or older and receiving benefits.

The raise is far less than this year’s historic 9 percent boost to Social Security benefits to offset 40-year-high inflation. Social Security is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers.

Still, advocates for older Americans applauded the annual adjustment.

“Retirees can rest a little easier at night knowing they will soon receive an increase in their Social Security checks to help them keep up with rising prices,” AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins told The Associated Press. “We know older Americans are still feeling the sting when they buy groceries and gas, making every dollar important.”

Social Security is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers. The maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes will be $168,600 for 2024, up from $160,200 for 2023.

The social insurance program faces a severe financial shortfall in coming years. The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released in March said the program’s trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2033. If that happens, the government will pay only 77 percent of scheduled benefits, the report said.

Congress has failed to advance legislative proposals to shore up Social Security from committees. Some would change the formula to calculate cost-of-living adjustments from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, to a different index, the CPI-E, which measures price changes based on spending patterns of the elderly, for example for health care, food and medicine.

Any change to the calculation would require congressional approval. But with decades of inaction on Social Security and with the House at a standstill after the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, seniors and their advocates told the AP they don’t have confidence any sort of change will be approved soon.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.