Cost-Of-Living Benefits Increase Expected for Military Retirees, Veterans

Northville, MI (Law Firm Newswire) November 12, 2019 – A 1.6 percent cost-of-living benefits boost will be given to military retirees and veterans for 2020 and some may see the increase as soon as December. This amount is roughly half of the increase from last year. It will affect around 69 million people.

Cost-of-living adjustments, or COLA for short, are calculated by the Social Security Administration (SSA) based on inflation and consumer spending over the months prior to the calculation. COLA varies widely from year to year. In 2016, no cost-of-living adjustment was made to benefits. In 2017 COLA was only 0.3 percent. Then, in both 2018 and 2019 it was a more than two percent increase each year.

“Cost-of-living increases, meager as they may be, are necessary to give veterans and retired military members a chance to keep up with ever rising costs,” said James G. Fausone, lead attorney at Legal Help for Veterans in Northville, Michigan. “They have been automatic since 1975 but, unfortunately, these pay increases are influenced by many factors at large.”

Active duty military members will be getting a cost-of-living adjustment to their wages as well. Theirs is significantly higher though, at 3.1 percent. This figure is calculated using wage growth in the civilian sector, versus the consumer-based information used by the Social Security Administration. The 2020 increase is still not finalized by Congress but, if passed, would be the biggest raise for active duty military members in the last ten years.

Some recipients may be disappointed with a 1.6 percent boost to pay when compared to last year’s increase. It will look like nearly $50 more a month for a 100 percent disabled, married veteran.

Some people may receive the new benefits as early as December, as different government agencies have different disbursement schedules. Most people will receive theirs beginning in January 2020.

Legal Help for Veterans is a law firm based in Northville, Michigan. It is veteran run and veteran centered, exclusively handling VA disability claims for veterans. Visit them online at https://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/

Learn more at http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC 41700 West Six Mile Road, Suite 101 Northville, MI 48168 Toll Free Phone: 800.693.4800