People who get Social Security disability benefits in the United States are getting ready to get their last payments in 2024. These payments will be bigger than last year’s payments.
Every monthly payment will still have this annual adjustment added to it until the end of the year. It has helped millions of people deal with the rising cost of living.
The end of the year and the holiday season come in December. It is important for beneficiaries to know when their payments are due and why they have been raised.
Since the beginning of 2024, when the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) was put in place, disability recipients have been getting more money than they did in 2023.
That being said, it is important to keep in mind that this increase has happened all year, not just in December. Even so, this extra help is more important for many people in December because of the extra costs that come up at that time.
In order to fully understand the December payments and the reasons for this increase, it is important to know the specifics. This is the last payment of the year under the 2024 COLA adjustment, so it is not a new increase.
Beneficiaries will be able to better understand how their December disability check works and better manage their money with this information.
December Disability Payments
Different groups of people who get disability payments from Social Security get their money on different days of the month.
The person is put into these groups based on when they first started getting the benefit and their birthday. In December, the following payment dates are sent out:
- Group 1: You get your payment on December 3. This group includes beneficiaries who started getting the benefit before 1997. For them, the disability check is issued in the first week of the month.
- Group 2: They get their payment on December 11. This group includes beneficiaries whose birthday is between the 1st and 10th of the month. These payments are issued in the second week. It is also necessary to have payment since after May 1997.
- Group 3: Gets their payment on December 18. Those whose birthday is between the 11th and 20th of the month are in this group, who get their payment in the third week. It is also necessary to have payment since after May 1997.
- Group 4: Gets its payment on December 24. This group, which covers beneficiaries with birthdays between the 21st and 31st of the month, gets their check in the last week. Since the 25th is a Christmas holiday, the payment is brought forward to Tuesday, December 24. It is also necessary to have payment since after May 1997.
Disability recipients can use these dates to plan their monthly spending, especially in December, when bank holidays can make it hard to meet deadlines and follow bank schedules.
Why is there an increase in the December Disability payment?
People may notice that their December check is bigger than the one they got in December of the previous year. It is important to make this clear: this increase is not just for December; it is due to the 2024 COLA adjustment.
The cost of living in the United States has been going up, so this change was made to all monthly payments at the start of the year and has been made to every check written in 2024.
The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is a way to figure out how much Social Security payments should be changed every year. It does this by looking at inflation and other economic factors.
In this case, the 2024 increase was made to help beneficiaries deal with the effects of inflation on their daily living costs. As a result, this year’s checks were bigger than those written in 2023. This has helped recipients better manage their money as prices have gone up.
It is important to remember that the COLA increase does not change every month. The payment in December is the same as it has been all year, but this will be the last annual adjustment made in 2024.
A new COLA adjustment of 2.5% has been set for next year. This will make payments in 2025 higher than they were this year.
The 2024 COLA-adjusted payment cycle ends with this final check in December.
This will give disability recipients steady help all year to cover the cost of living. When 2025 comes around, beneficiaries will get the new change, which will allow them to keep getting the care they need.
