Tyler Foster
Latest Articles by Tyler Foster
A first-year Medicare Advantage member can switch back to Original Medicare within 12 months and keep Medigap
Medicare Advantage’s appeal often rests on a trade a new enrollee cannot fully judge from a brochure: lower premiums and extra benefits in exchange for...
Leaving a job after 65 opens an eight-month window to join Medicare with no penalty
A worker who keeps working past 65 while staying on a company health plan does not have to scramble to sign up for Medicare the...
A Medicare Savings Program’s QMB level bars a doctor from billing you the balance
The most generous of Social Security’s four Medicare Savings Programs, the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program, does more than help pay Medicare premiums. Once a low-income...
A one-time $255 Social Security death benefit can go to a surviving spouse
When a Social Security-insured worker dies, a surviving spouse may be entitled to a one-time payment of exactly $255 — a flat, statutory figure that...
Remarrying before 60 can cost a survivor their Social Security survivor benefit
Remarriage is one of the few life events that can shut off a Social Security survivor benefit entirely, and the outcome depends almost entirely on...
A divorced spouse can claim on an ex’s record two years after the divorce, before the ex files
An ordinary spouse cannot collect a Social Security spousal benefit until the working spouse has filed for retirement benefits. A divorced spouse faces no such...
A disabled surviving spouse can claim a Social Security survivor benefit as early as 50
Social Security’s ordinary survivor-benefit floor is age 60, but a surviving spouse who has a disability can start ten years earlier, at 50, provided the...
A widow or widower can start a reduced Social Security survivor benefit as early as 60
Social Security does not force a surviving spouse to wait until full retirement age to start collecting. A widow or widower can begin a reduced...
Fifteen more drugs, including Trelegy and Janumet, get Medicare price cuts up to 85% next year
Medicare finalized negotiated 2027 prices for 15 more prescription drugs on November 25, 2025, with individual cuts from the 2024 list price ranging from about...
Ignore the plan-change letter your Medicare insurer mails by September 30 and you can lose January drug coverage
Every year, Medicare Advantage and Part D plans mail an “Annual Notice of Change” each September, and CMS guidance calls for it to reach enrollees...
Mortgage rates are pushing toward 7% after a Fed official floated a rate hike
Mortgage rates edged higher this week after Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr said the central bank “should act decisively to raise” short-term interest rates unless...
Tariffs are on track to cost the average family more than $2,500 this year
The Joint Economic Committee’s Democratic staff estimates that tariffs are on pace to cost the average American family more than $2,500 in 2026, a total...
The old health-subsidy cliff returns in 2027, and a late-50s couple over the line can lose up to $25,000
The Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, and with them went the cushion that had, for several years,...
A bill to stop Social Security garnishment for student debt lands when Congress returns September 14
Senator Bernie Sanders is preparing to introduce the Stop Social Security Garnishment Act of 2026 when the Senate returns from its August recess on September...
Medicare’s 2027 deal cuts Ozempic and Wegovy to about $274, down 71%
Medicare’s drug price negotiators have pushed the cost of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus down to roughly $274 for a 30-day supply, a 71% cut from...
A spousal Social Security benefit can reach half of a higher-earning partner’s full check
A spouse who earned little or nothing over a working life can still collect a Social Security check worth up to half of a husband’s...
