Benefits news
The rules change. We read them so you don’t have to.
Short, sourced reporting on the decisions that move money in and out of American households — Social Security, Medicare, SNAP, and the federal rules behind them. Every number is traced to the agency that published it, and every story says what it means for your check.
One of the three months that sets your 2027 raise is now on the board
The cost-of-living adjustment isn’t a decision anyone makes in October. It’s an arithmetic problem that finishes itself over July, August, and September — and the first of those three months is now published. Here is where the math stands.
By Kwame Kuadey · August 16, 2026 · 4 min read
Read the story3.1%
Where the 2027 COLA would land if August and September prices hold exactly where July left them.
Benefits Insider calculation from BLS CPI-W data published August 12, 2026. Not a forecast — two of the three months are still unmeasured.
The numbers, drawn
Two charts we keep updated
We build these from the agencies’ own data and publish the arithmetic alongside them. The first one changes twice more this autumn; the second changes every November.
Reuse these. Any of our charts may be republished with attribution to Benefits Insider and a link to the page it came from.
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More this week
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Original Medicare has no limit on what you can spend in a year. That’s the whole decision.
Medicare.gov states it in one line near the top of its costs page, and it’s the most consequential sentence in the program. Everything people argue about in the fall comes back to it.
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SNAP’s new numbers land October 1 — and they’re the ones people miss
Social Security’s annual raise gets a press release. SNAP’s gets a table quietly posted to a USDA web page. Both change what shows up in your account.
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Straight from the source
Read the originals yourself
We link to the agency page for every number we publish. If we ever get something wrong, these are the pages that will prove it — which is exactly why they’re here.
Social Security Administration
Cost-of-Living Adjustment information ↗
COLA, earnings limits, and the taxable maximum. Updated each October.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Consumer Price Index news release ↗
The CPI-W line in this release is what the COLA is calculated from. Monthly.
USDA Food & Nutrition Service
SNAP cost-of-living adjustments ↗
Income limits, maximum allotments, and deductions. Effective each October 1.
Three things that affect your benefits, every weekday.
Short enough to read with your coffee. Sourced well enough to act on. Free.