Living off of a fixed income such as Social Security can sometimes put you in a vulnerable position when it comes to changes being made to the Social Security program. For this reason, it is important for beneficiaries to always keep an eye out for any updates from the Social Security Administration (SSA) so as to not be surprised later down the line.
As such, here are some note-worthy changes that will be implemented to the Social Security program in the upcoming year.
Medicare premium projected increase
Seniors who are enrolled in the Medicare program who are also beneficiaries of the Social Security program will know that their Medicare Part B premium gets automatically deducted from their benefit check. The unfortunate news for this cohort of seniors is that the Medicare Part B premium is projected to have a rather notable increase in the new year, and as a result, their benefit checks may seem smaller in 2026.
According to estimates in the 2025 Medicare Board of Trustees report, in the upcoming year the “standard Part B premium will be $206.20 per month, up from $185 this year. That’s an 11.5% increase.” This means that seniors will be losing around $20 more in their monthly benefit checks and if the 2026 COLA comes in at the currently projected 2.7%, a third of this increase (relative to the average benefit check amount) will be lost before it even reaches the retiree.
Cost of Living Adjustment
On October 15th, the SSA will officially announce the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2026. The COLA is an increase implemented across all benefits in order to account for the effects of inflation. In 2025, the COLA was 2.5%. Experts have estimated a COLA of 2.7% for 2026 based off the CPI data available to date.
The COLA is calculated using third quarter CPI-W data compared year over year so these projections are still subject to change. However, a recent study conducted by the nonpartisan advocacy group, The Senior Citizens League, has revealed that most seniors feels that inflation grows significantly faster than their benefits do causing them to feel frustrated.
“The most popular option, supported by 68 percent of seniors, was calculating the COLA with an inflation index that better represents seniors’ economic experiences. The government currently calculates the COLA with the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners, but TSCL advocates switching to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly,” as per the study.
Goodbye paper checks
In accordance with a March 25th executive order, the SSA announced in July that it will no longer be issuing paper checks to beneficiaries as of September 30th. At present, over 99% of beneficiaries already receive their benefit income by means of Direct Deposit, however, the SSA is currently encouraging the remaining beneficiaries to change over their payment method to either a Direct Deposit or a Direct Express card.
The agency has cited speed and efficiency, cost savings, and enhanced security as its reasons for this change, adding that “paper checks are 16 times more likely to be lost or stolen compared to electronic payments, increasing the risk of fraud. Electronic payments provide a safer, more secure way to receive benefits.”
Beneficiaries who need to change over to an electronic payment method can do so online through their my Social Security account.
Benefit withholding
In 2020, federal student loan repayments, including defaulted loan repayments, had been paused by the Department of Education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May of this year, however, the Trump Administration announced that it would be resuming collections, and in the case of defaulted loans, it would be garnishing from those individuals’ income.
Almost immediately after this announcement, the DOE then stated that it would once again be placing a temporary pause on the garnishment and collections.
“Please be aware that the Department of Education is delaying offsets of these monthly benefits for a couple of months and plans to resume sometime this summer,” the DOE stated at the time. However, now that summer has ended, it is more than likely that garnishments will resume. This means that Social Security recipients who have defaulted on their loan repayments are subject to a 15% garnishment from their monthly benefits.
Wage cap increase
When paying into Social Security payroll taxes, their is a maximum taxable earnings amount in place. For 2025, this wage cap stands at $176,100 and this means that any income earned higher than $176,100 is not considered when you are paying into the dedicated payroll tax. The wage cap is subject to change on a year to year basis and according to estimates from the Social Security Board of Trustees, the wage cap will increase to $183,600 in 2026.