Disabled Americans can expect to see their largest increase in their monthly benefits in more than four decades next year.
In October, the Social Security Administration announced that individuals receiving Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income benefits will see an 8.7 percent increase in their monthly benefits in 2023.
That’s the largest annual increase since 1981. In recent years, the annual cost of living adjustment has usually been around 2-3 percent.
Disability insurance benefits are based on how much workers have paid into Social Security, but SSA estimates that the average beneficiary will see their monthly benefit rise by about $120.
The monthly SSI benefit before deductions are made for things like part-time work and housing, which is currently at $841, will rise to $914 in 2023.
Social Security announced several other important numbers are changing quite a bit next year.
Substantial Gainful Activity, which is the monthly income amount used to calculate whether a job counts as past work activity, and to determine eligibility for benefits while a case is pending, will rise to $1,470 a month from $1,350 for non-blind individual. For blind individuals, it is increasing to $2,460 a month from $2,260.
In addition, the trial work period threshold is increasing from $970 a month to $1,050. This number is used to determine whether an individual who has returned to work after being disabled for more than a year is eligible for ongoing benefits.
Of course, the downside to these big increases is that they’re pegged to inflation, so big cost of living adjustments mean that almost everyone’s bills are increasing quite a bit as well, but these higher benefits should at least help disabled Americans keep up just a little bit better.
