Tyler Foster
Latest Articles by Tyler Foster
Miss your one-time Medigap window and an insurer can charge more or turn you down
The most valuable window in Medicare opens once and closes on a fixed schedule, and many people do not notice it until it is over....
A life-changing event lets you appeal Medicare’s high-income premium surcharge
Medicare’s premiums are not the same for everyone. Higher-income enrollees pay a surcharge on top of the standard Part B and Part D premiums, a...
Medicare caps the cost of insulin at $35 a month for enrollees
Before the cap, the pharmacy counter was where many diabetics did the math out loud. A single vial or pen of insulin could run well...
Extra Help can wipe out most of a lower-income enrollee’s Medicare drug costs
Prescription costs are the expense retirees feel most sharply, because they recur every month and climb with the number of conditions a person manages. For...
Survivor benefits let a widow or widower step up to the higher of two checks, not both
A married couple drawing two Social Security checks is quietly exposed to a loss that has nothing to do with markets or inflation. When one...
Up to 85% of Social Security can be taxed, and a new senior deduction can trim that bill
Retirees who assume Social Security arrives untaxed often learn otherwise the first time they file. Federal law counts a portion of benefits as taxable income...
One more high-earning year can replace an old zero and permanently lift your Social Security check
A common assumption is that once Social Security starts, the monthly amount is frozen except for annual cost-of-living adjustments. It is not. The benefit is...
A severely disabled adult child can collect on a parent’s Social Security record for life
Families raising a child with a severe, lifelong disability often assume that because the child never built a work history, Social Security has nothing to...
You can withdraw a Social Security claim once within 12 months and reset for a bigger check
Claiming Social Security is one of the few retirement decisions that comes with a genuine undo button — but only briefly, and only at full...
A widowed spouse can start a reduced Social Security survivor benefit as early as age 60
Almost every Social Security benefit shares the same earliest starting line of age 62. The survivor benefit is the exception. A widow or widower can...
A repealed pair of rules is raising Social Security checks for about 3 million public retirees
Two provisions that trimmed Social Security for public-sector retirees are gone, and the checks of roughly three million teachers, firefighters, police officers and other government...
A spouse can claim up to half the worker’s Social Security even with little earnings history
Consider a household where one partner spent decades in the paid workforce and the other raised children, cared for aging parents, or worked jobs that...
Delaying Social Security adds about 8% a year to your check up to age 70
Few guaranteed returns in retirement match what Social Security quietly offers a worker who is willing to wait. For each year a beneficiary postpones claiming...
Medicare now caps what Part D enrollees pay out of pocket for prescriptions each year
For years, a Medicare drug plan came with no ceiling. A retiree treated for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, or another condition that relies on an expensive...
Home insurance now averages about $3,057 a year and rivals the mortgage for many owners
The cost of protecting a home has quietly become one of the fastest-rising line items in a retiree’s budget. The average U.S. homeowners policy is...
A Medicare Savings Program can pay your Part B premium if your income is modest
The single largest predictable cost most retirees face under Medicare is the Part B premium, deducted automatically from the Social Security check every month before...
