Retirement & Taxes
Long-term financial planning, retirement accounts, government benefits, tax law, and IRS rules. Covers the intersection of policy and personal finance that affects how people save, invest, and plan ahead.
Latest in Retirement & Taxes
Medicare’s Part D late-enrollment penalty is permanent, adding to your premium for as long as you have drug coverage
Sign up for Medicare drug coverage even a few months late without a good reason, and the penalty does not go away when you finally...
Medicare fully covers skilled home health care for homebound enrollees
Skilled nursing visits and therapy delivered inside a beneficiary’s own living room can carry a price of zero under Medicare, a benefit that stands out...
Medicare’s Diabetes Prevention Program is free for enrollees at risk of type 2 diabetes
A once-in-a-lifetime health program buried inside Medicare Part B costs qualifying beneficiaries nothing, no coinsurance and no deductible, yet most people who could use it...
Medicare covers 80% of wheelchairs, walkers and home oxygen as durable medical equipment
When a doctor prescribes a wheelchair, a walker or a home oxygen setup, Medicare Part B picks up 80 percent of the approved cost and...
A Medicare Advantage prior-authorization denial can be forced into a 72-hour expedited appeal when care is urgent
When a Medicare Advantage plan refuses to authorize care a doctor says a patient needs, the standard appeal can crawl along for weeks, an unbearable...
You can appeal a Medicare denial through five levels, and a large share of appeals succeed
A denial letter from Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan reads like a final word, but it rarely is. Medicare gives beneficiaries a formal, five-level...
Medicare’s hospice benefit covers end-of-life care, plus respite stays for caregivers
When a serious illness reaches the point where curative treatment stops helping, Medicare’s hospice benefit shifts the goal to comfort, and it does so at...
A Medicare Special Needs Plan can fold Medicare and Medicaid into one plan for people who qualify for both
Millions of older Americans hold two health cards at once, one for Medicare and one for their state’s Medicaid program, and juggling them can mean...
Doctors who don’t accept Medicare assignment can bill you up to 15% above the approved amount
A doctor’s willingness to “accept assignment” is one of the quietest cost switches in all of Medicare, and most enrollees never think to ask about...
A divorced spouse can claim on an ex’s Social Security two years after divorce, even if the ex hasn’t filed
A divorce ends a marriage, but it does not always end a claim on a former spouse’s Social Security. A person whose marriage lasted at...
A spouse caring for the worker’s child under 16 can draw Social Security at any age
Almost everything about Social Security spousal benefits is tied to age. A spouse usually cannot collect before 62, and claiming that early permanently trims the...
Social Security benefits are shielded from most creditors, though the government can still take some for its own debts
A judgment from a credit card company or a hospital can feel like the end of the road for a retiree living on a fixed...
Claim Social Security early and regret it, and suspending at full retirement age can rebuild the benefit
Roughly a third of new Social Security recipients start their benefit at 62, the earliest age allowed, and lock in a permanently reduced check in...
Social Security disability back pay can reach 12 months before you applied
An award letter from Social Security often carries a second surprise: a lump sum covering months, sometimes more than a year, before the checks began....
A Social Security representative payee must spend and account for a loved one’s check, or risk repaying it
Taking over a relative’s Social Security as a representative payee sounds like a simple favor: the check comes to you, and you handle the bills....
You can start Social Security and keep working past full retirement age with no earnings penalty
Full retirement age draws a hard line through Social Security’s rules on working. On one side, earning too much can shrink a benefit; on the...
The Social Security payment for the month a person dies must be returned, even after it reaches the bank
A parent dies in the middle of the month, and a few days later the usual Social Security deposit lands in their checking account. To...
Money Social Security withholds for working before full retirement age comes back later as a higher check
Retirees who claim Social Security early and keep working often watch payments shrink or vanish, and many conclude the government simply took the money. It...
Social Security’s special minimum benefit rewards a long, low-wage career with a higher floor on your check
Most Social Security retirement checks are figured off a worker’s 35 highest-earning years, a formula that quietly punishes decades of low pay. There is a...
Medicaid cannot take your home to recover care costs while a disabled or caregiver child lives there
For many retirees the house is the largest thing they will leave behind, and the fear that a state Medicaid program will seize it to...