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 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...
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...
University of Miami Health is leaving UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage network on January 1
UnitedHealthcare and the University of Miami Health System reached a deal this month that keeps most of their arrangement intact, yet it left one group...
A new Senate bill would block the government from garnishing Social Security for old student loans
A proposal taking shape in the Senate would draw a hard line around one of the government’s most powerful collection tools: its ability to reach...
Social Security is easing overpayment clawbacks, adding five-year repayment plans and a simpler waiver
Few notices from the Social Security Administration land harder than a letter announcing that the agency paid a beneficiary too much and now wants the...
A defaulted student loan can take up to 15% of a Social Security check, with a $750 monthly floor
For a growing number of Americans in their late 60s and 70s, a federal student loan that went unpaid decades ago has quietly become a...
A special-needs trust can hold money for a disabled person without costing them SSI or Medicaid
Leaving money to a disabled child or grandchild the ordinary way can backfire. A straightforward inheritance or a personal-injury settlement can hand someone a lump...
Supplemental Security Income excludes your home and one car from its $2,000 limit
The number that decides whether a low-income disabled or elderly person keeps their Supplemental Security Income is $2,000. Cross that line in countable assets and...
A change now lets people who became disabled by age 46 open a tax-favored ABLE account
As of January 1, 2026, millions of disabled Americans who were locked out of one of the most flexible savings tools in the tax code...
A PACE program covers all of a frail senior’s care with no premium for those on both Medicare and Medicaid
For a frail older adult who needs nursing-home-level care but wants to stay at home, the bills can arrive from every direction at once: doctors,...
Social Security’s 2027 raise is set for October 14, and it is tracking above this year’s increase
Retirees will not have to wait much longer to learn how much their Social Security checks will grow next year. The annual cost-of-living adjustment for...
First-time Medicare Advantage enrollees get a 12-month trial right to return to Original Medicare with guaranteed Medigap
A retiree who tries a Medicare Advantage plan for the first time and dislikes it is not locked in. Federal rules give first-time enrollees a...
Employer or union drug coverage counts as creditable, letting you delay Medicare Part D with no penalty
Turning 65 does not force a working retiree to sign up for a Medicare drug plan right away, and enrolling too soon can even mean...
A high-deductible Medigap Plan G cuts the premium for healthy retirees
Two retirees can hold the same Plan G coverage and pay wildly different premiums, and the reason is a version of the policy that most...
Medicare covers cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation after a heart attack or serious lung disease
After a heart attack or a diagnosis of severe lung disease, Medicare will help pay for a structured recovery program of monitored exercise, education and...
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...