Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
Social Security will charge $75 to copy an electronic claim folder starting October 1
Starting October 1, 2026, the Social Security Administration will charge $75 to copy a person’s Electronic Folder, the agency’s own name for the electronic case...
Stand-alone Medicare drug plans averaged $36 a month in premiums in 2026, against $8 for Advantage drug plans
Stand-alone Medicare Part D drug plans carried an average monthly premium of $36 in 2026, more than four times the $8 average for drug coverage...
Social Security will charge $54 for W-2 copies starting October 1
Beginning October 1, 2026, the Social Security Administration will charge $54 for a copy of an original W-2 or W-3 wage-reporting form ordered through its...
Medicare’s weight-loss drug program covers people with a BMI of 35 or higher, or lower with certain health risks
Medicare’s GLP-1 Bridge program covers weight-loss drugs for beneficiaries with a body mass index of 35 or higher, and for some beneficiaries with a lower...
Original Medicare adds a new program covering virtual visits, wearable devices and coaching for chronic conditions
A new CMS Innovation Center model called ACCESS is now giving some Original Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions access to virtual visits, wearable devices and...
About one in ten Medicare Advantage members saw their plan leave their market in 2026, a study found
A research letter published in JAMA on February 18, 2026, found that roughly 2.9 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, about one in ten people in non-employer...
Medicare telehealth from home now runs through December 31, 2027
Medicare’s own September 2026 fact sheet on 2027 changes confirms that a beneficiary can keep receiving telehealth services at any location in the U.S., including...
Leukemia drug Calquence drops from $14,228 to $8,600 a month under Medicare’s negotiated price starting January 1
CMS fixed the January 1 start date for Calquence’s negotiated Medicare price more than a year before it takes effect, publishing the figure alongside 14...
Medicare’s negotiated price for the lung-scarring drug Ofev falls from $12,622 to $6,350 a month in 2027
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis has no cure, and the drug most commonly prescribed to slow it, Ofev, has carried a five-figure monthly price tag for years....
Breast cancer drug Ibrance falls from $15,741 to $7,871 a month under Medicare’s negotiated price
Ibrance, a pill Pfizer sells for hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, is one of 15 drugs whose Medicare price the government negotiated down for 2027, cutting...
When a Medicare Advantage plan leaves Medicare, members can buy several Medigap plans, including Plan G, without health questions
When a Medicare Advantage plan leaves Medicare altogether, federal rules give affected members a guaranteed-issue right to buy a Medigap policy, meaning insurers must sell...
Disability claimants can now send three hearing forms through my Social Security, and 26 more notices arrive online
Three disability-hearing forms can now be filed directly through my Social Security, and 26 additional hearing-related notices are arriving inside the same online account, under...
Social Security expects to decide 25,000 more disability hearings this year than last
Twenty-five thousand more disability hearings will be decided by the close of fiscal year 2026 than were decided in fiscal year 2025, Social Security projected...
Social Security’s judges are deciding nearly 20 percent more disability cases a day, the agency says
Administrative law judges deciding disability cases are now clearing nearly 20 percent more of them per day than they did in fiscal year 2025, Social...
The combined wait for a first disability decision and an appeal is 47 days shorter, Social Security says
A 47-day drop in the combined wait for an initial disability decision and a reconsideration appeal is the headline figure inside a September 1 accounting...
Living SSI recipients are still owed $195.7 million in underpayments Social Security never paid, an audit found
A Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General audit published August 28, 2026 found that the agency never paid roughly 610,165 underpayments, worth $195.7...
Nearly 70 percent of Medicare Advantage plan leaders expect leaner benefits in 2027, with Part B givebacks and dental among the cuts
HealthScape Advisors, a health care consultancy owned by the Chartis Group, surveyed more than 35 Medicare Advantage plan executives in January 2026 and found that...
Medicare’s negotiated price for the cancer drug Pomalyst falls from $21,744 to $8,650 a month in 2027
Beginning January 1, 2027, Medicare’s second round of drug-price negotiations cuts the monthly list price of Pomalyst, a multiple myeloma treatment made by Bristol Myers...
Social Security payments due October 3 arrive Friday, October 2, for people who started benefits before May 1997
Social Security’s monthly payment for people who started receiving benefits before May 1997, along with anyone who also receives Supplemental Security Income, is due on...
Humana members losing their Medicare Advantage plan get a special window from December 8 to February 28 to pick new coverage
Humana confirmed on its second-quarter 2026 earnings call that Medicare Advantage exits set for 2027 will affect roughly 600,000 members, the second straight year the...