10 Reasons You Could Get Less Social Security

3. Medicare Premium Increases Offset Your Cost of Living Increase

For about 70 percent of Medicare enrollees, Medicare premium increases must be lower than increases in the enrollees’ Social Security benefits, and as a result, many enrollees pay a reduced Medicare premium.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expects 42 percent of these individuals to pay the full premium beginning in 2018, due to a cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits. This increases those individuals’ Medicare premiums from an average of $109 to the full $134, thereby offsetting — and in some cases cancelling out — their cost of living increases.