Payments to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries are set to go up a good bit next year.

The Social Security Administration said Thursday that payments will rise 2.8 percent for 2019.

The increase is due to an automatic cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, that’s mandated by law and is based on inflation. It will take effect starting Dec. 31 for the nation’s 8 million SSI recipients and in January for the 62 million Americans benefiting from Social Security.

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For individuals receiving SSI, the maximum federal payment will grow to $771 per month, up from $750 this year. Couples benefiting from the program will top out at $1,157 per month compared to $1,125 this year.

Some states provide additional funds to SSI beneficiaries, so actual payments may be higher.

This coming year’s COLA is slightly higher than the 2 percent increase beneficiaries saw in 2018 and represents the largest year-over-year increase since 2012 when payments rose 3.6 percent.

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