Special Minimum Benefit Tables
To be eligible for a special minimum benefit, a person must have
at least 11 years of coverage. A person acquires a
year of coverage by having a certain
minimum amount of earnings in the year.
Before 1979, the special minimum benefit amounts did not increase when benefit increases occurred. Legislation provided the benefit amounts for January 1973, March 1974, and January 1979. Automatic benefit increases, or cost-of-living adjustments, first increased the benefits beginning with June 1979.
For each year in which a benefit increase became effective, we provide a special minimum table which relates a year of coverage to a special minimum benefit called a Primary Insurance Amount. This form allows you to select a year from 1973 to the present. If no benefit increase became effective in the year you select, we will give you the table for the last prior year in which an increase became effective. For example, no benefit increases became effective in 2009 and 2010, so if you were to select 2010, you would get the table effective for December 2008.
Benefit Tables For Persons Eligible Before 1979
For persons eligible for benefits before 1979, or for deaths
prior to 1979, benefits are determined on the basis of Primary
Insurance Amounts (PIAs) given either by tables or, for years prior
to 1959, by formulas. In either case, a person's PIA depends on the
Average Monthly Wage computed on the basis of that individual's
earnings record. (For persons eligible after 1978, benefits are computed
using formulas instead of tables.)
This form allows you to select a year from 1959 to the present. The PIA table that became effective in the selected year will be provided.
Before automatic benefit increases existed, there were years where no benefit increase occurred. If no table became effective in the year you select, the table which provided benefits in that year will be given. There were no cost-of-living adjustments effective December 2009 or December 2010, so the table effective for December 2008 remained the benefit table in effect until December 2011.