Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
California loses eight Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, and its average premium edges up to $14.12, CMS data show
While CMS reports a national average Medicare Advantage premium that fell 16.5% to $12.00 for 2027, California moves the other way. The state ends up...
Arizona seniors get 15 more Medicare Advantage plans for 2027 and Indiana’s get 13, as both states’ average premiums fall
Arizona’s Medicare Advantage shelf grows from 133 plans to 148 in 2027, 15 more, and Indiana’s from 127 to 140, 13 more, while the average...
Social Security is closing the Portland lockbox that takes mailed overpayment repayments on Sept. 30, and payments sent there after Dec. 30 will be returned
A Portland, Oregon, lockbox that receives mailed Social Security overpayment repayments is retired effective Sept. 30, according to an agency message dated Sept. 23. Mail...
Medicare says 88% of drug-plan shoppers without Extra Help can get a basic 2027 plan for $10.30 a month or less
Nearly nine in 10 drug-plan shoppers outside the Extra Help program will be able to choose a basic 2027 Part D plan for $10.30 a...
When Medicare open enrollment starts Oct. 15, 97% of beneficiaries will have at least 10 Medicare Advantage plans to choose from, CMS says
Choosing a Medicare Advantage plan for 2027 starts from a crowded field. CMS said on Sept. 28 that 97% of people on Medicare will be...
Workers 55 and older would earn 2 points a year toward full Social Security at 60 under a new House bill
Workers who reach 55 while still in a physically demanding job would accrue Social Security eligibility points twice as fast as those in their 45s...
Retired New York City workers on Medicare have until October 30 to seek copay reimbursement in a settlement over their city health plan
Retired New York City employees enrolled in Medicare have until October 30, 2026, to file a claim in a state-court settlement over co-payments charged under...
Medicare Advantage star ratings get harder to earn for 2027, and analysts see UnitedHealthcare’s largest contract slipping to 4 stars
Half of the numeric thresholds Medicare Advantage insurers are graded against tightened for 2027, according to an analysis of CMS’s own draft cutpoint data, and...
Who qualifies for full Social Security at 60? A new House bill sets a points test for construction, roofing and nursing jobs
A bill introduced by Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., would let workers in physically demanding jobs collect full Social Security benefits at 60, seven years before...
Social Security’s December payments arrive on the 9th, 16th and 23rd, depending on birth date
December’s Social Security payments land earlier in the month than October’s, arriving on the 9th, 16th or 23rd rather than the 14th, 21st or 28th,...
Sentara’s Medicare agreements with Anthem expire December 31 unless a deal is reached, though cancer patients keep in-network care through treatment
Anthem members receiving cancer treatment at a Sentara hospital are set to keep in-network coverage through their full course of care no matter what happens...
Social Security proposes folding two disability-hearing medical forms into one, a form it expects about 760,000 people to file a year
Two disability-hearing forms Social Security currently keeps separate would merge into a single document under a proposal the agency published September 24, a change that...
Widowed mothers and fathers raising a worker’s children average $1,387.46 a month from Social Security
Ninety-five thousand widowed mothers and fathers were collecting a Social Security benefit tied to raising a deceased worker’s child in August, checks that averaged $1,387.46...
Social Security plans a new online application to replace iClaim, starting with retirement and death-benefit claims
iClaim, the online portal Social Security has used for two decades to process retirement and survivor claims, is being replaced by a system called the...
A Social Security headquarters certification for non-program requests will cost $65 from October 1
Courts, insurers and other outside parties that ask Social Security to certify a non-program record at agency headquarters will pay $65 for that certification, under...
Starting October 1, Social Security charges $74 to manually verify a Social Security number for a third party
Landlords, employers, banks and other third parties who ask the Social Security Administration to manually confirm someone else’s nine-digit number will pay $74 for that...
Only 41.5 percent of seniors had private health coverage in 2025, down 2.8 points
Fewer than 42 of every 100 Americans age 65 and older carried private health insurance in 2025, a share that fell 2.8 percentage points in...
Social Security will charge $22 for a Numident record copy from October 1
A $22 fee will apply to anyone who requests a copy of a Numident record, the Social Security Administration’s internal file tied to every Social...
Spouses of retired workers average $986.70 a month from Social Security
Half of a retired worker’s Social Security benefit is the most a spouse can collect while both remain alive, and the program’s August snapshot shows...
Children of deceased workers average $1,181.07 a month in Social Security survivor benefits
Just under two million children were collecting a Social Security survivor benefit in August, checks that averaged $1,181.07 a month on a parent’s earnings record,...