The 5.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, will produce an estimated average monthly benefit of $1,153 for all retired workers in 2009, $74 a month more than in 2008. What's more, for most beneficiaries, none of that increase will be eaten up by a rise in the standard premium paid by beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Part B in 2009. A relatively small number of Medicare Part B enrollees with higher incomes, about 5 percent, will pay a higher premium based on their income. Medicare Part B enrollees in the highest income bracket (i.e., those filing individual tax returns greater than $213,000 or joint returns greater than $426,000) will pay a total monthly premium in 2009 of $308.30.

A typical married couple, both receiving benefits, can expect to find $1,876 in their monthly benefit checks in 2009, $115 more than the comparable 2008 benefit, while the average widow or widower living alone will receive an average benefit of $1,112, an increase of $71. These amounts do not reflect deductions for Medicare premiums.