Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
Medicare covers medical nutrition therapy at no cost for people with diabetes or kidney disease
Among the long list of Medicare services that carry a copay or a deductible, medical nutrition therapy is a rarity: for the people who qualify,...
Many states run a pharmaceutical assistance program that helps seniors pay for prescriptions
Medicare Part D is not the only program that can pay down a senior’s drug bill. A number of states — though far from all...
Every state offers free one-on-one Medicare counseling through its SHIP program
Every state funds free, one-on-one Medicare counseling through a program most enrollees have never heard of: the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, or SHIP. Backed...
A widow or widower can switch between a survivor benefit and their own retirement check to get the most
For a widow or widower, Social Security offers a choice that most beneficiaries never get: two different benefits, drawn from two different records, that can...
A disabled worker’s spouse and children can also draw a monthly check on that worker’s Social Security record
When a worker qualifies for Social Security disability benefits, the payment does not have to stop with the worker. A spouse and children can each...
Legal immigrants who earned 40 work credits can collect Social Security like any other worker
A widespread assumption holds that Social Security retirement benefits are reserved for citizens. They are not. The program pays a monthly retirement benefit based on...
A dependent parent of a worker who dies can qualify for a monthly Social Security parent’s benefit
Most Social Security survivor benefits flow down a generation, to a widow, widower, or child. One little-known benefit runs the other way: an aging parent...
A surviving divorced spouse can collect Social Security survivor benefits when the marriage lasted 10 years
A divorce does not always sever the Social Security tie between two people. When a former spouse dies, the survivor can still draw a monthly...
A Social Security “disability freeze” keeps low-earning years from dragging down your future retirement check
Social Security figures a retirement check from a worker’s highest-earning years, which means a stretch of little or no income can quietly shrink the benefit...
Taking a six-month retroactive Social Security lump sum permanently lowers every monthly check that follows
The Social Security Administration lets a worker who files after full retirement age collect up to six months of benefits in a single retroactive lump...
Humana is mailing roughly 600,000 Medicare Advantage members letters this September that their plan ends in 2027
About 600,000 Humana members are about to receive a letter that ends their Medicare Advantage plan, and the notices are landing in September rather than...
Medicare will start covering Wegovy and Zepbound for obesity, with many enrollees paying about $50 a month
For the first time, Medicare is paying for the blockbuster obesity drugs Wegovy and Zepbound, and the sticker shock that kept them out of reach...
A prescription discount card can beat an insurance copay, but you can’t use both at once
At the pharmacy counter, the lowest sticker price on a prescription is not always the cheapest choice. A free discount card can price a common...
A Medicare general enrollment gap can leave you uncovered for months and paying a penalty
Turning 65 comes with a deadline that many people do not realize is a deadline. The window to sign up for Medicare Part B without...
Social Security benefits are not automatic, and applying too late can cost back pay
A common assumption trips up new retirees: that Social Security simply starts on its own once a person reaches a certain age. It does not....
Medicare now covers therapy and mental-health visits, including with some counselors
For years, older Americans seeking counseling ran into a practical wall: many of the therapists in their communities could not bill Medicare, which left beneficiaries...
Medicare covers a continuous glucose monitor and diabetes supplies for many enrollees
Managing diabetes carries a steady stream of costs — test strips, lancets, and the monitors that read blood sugar — and for a retiree on...
Moving out of a plan’s service area can open a guaranteed right to buy Medigap
A retiree who relocates and discovers that a Medicare Advantage plan no longer serves the new address faces a quiet but consequential opening. That move...
Read the Medicare plan letter arriving by September 30 before your costs change January 1
Each fall a plain envelope arrives that decides how much a Medicare beneficiary will pay the following year, and too many people set it aside...
A free \”Welcome to Medicare\” visit is available during your first year on Part B
New Medicare enrollees have a benefit waiting for them that costs nothing and expires if it is not used in time. The one-time “Welcome to...