Social Security checks will be going up by 2.0% in 2018, thanks to a blip in the CPI-W in the third quarter caused by higher energy prices.

However, some clients will see little or nothing of their COLA. Because of how the hold-harmless unwinding works after a year (or years) in which some beneficiaries’ premiums were held artificially low because their annual COLA didn’t cover the rise in premiums, we may see the paradoxical situation where lower-income people have their entire COLA absorbed by Medicare premiums while higher-income clients get to enjoy their full COLA and unchanged (or even lower) premiums.

Here’s how that works…