Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
Original Medicare pays nothing toward routine dental, vision or hearing care
Three of the most routine health expenses in later life fall almost entirely outside Original Medicare. Cleanings and dentures, eye exams for glasses, and hearing...
A surviving spouse who remarries after age 60 still keeps a late partner’s Social Security survivor benefit
A widow or widower who finds love again after 60 does not have to choose between a new marriage and a late spouse’s Social Security....
Claim Social Security too early? You can undo it within 12 months by paying the money back
Social Security offers a rarely used reset for retirees who claim their benefit and quickly regret it: a full withdrawal of the application within 12...
Working before full retirement age costs $1 in Social Security for every $2 you earn over the limit
Claiming Social Security while still on the job, and before reaching full retirement age, comes with a catch that blindsides many early retirees: the agency...
Skip Medicare at 65 and the late penalty adds 10% to your Part B premium for life, for every year you waited
Delaying Medicare Part B past the initial sign-up window can attach a penalty that never goes away. For most people who miss their enrollment period...
Up to 85% of your Social Security check can be taxed, under income lines frozen since 1983
The income lines that decide whether Social Security benefits get taxed were drawn in 1983 and have not moved since. A single filer whose combined...
A Medicare drug subsidy ends in 2027, and nearly half of drug plans could raise premiums more than $10 a month
The federal subsidy that softened standalone Medicare Part D premiums for two straight years will not return for 2027, and the government’s own estimates point...
A defaulted student loan can take 15% of your Social Security check, but the first $750 a month is protected
Roughly 452,000 Social Security recipients are behind enough on federal student loans to face a collection tool many had forgotten existed. Through the Treasury Offset...
Medicare covers a shingles shot and other Part D vaccines at no cost
The shingles vaccine, which once cost Medicare beneficiaries well over a hundred dollars out of pocket, is now free under Part D, along with every...
Medicare’s fall Open Enrollment, October 15 to December 7, is the window to replace a plan leaving in 2027
Medicare’s fall Open Enrollment opens October 15 and closes December 7, and for members whose Advantage or drug plans will not return in 2027, it...
A bill would raise the SSI savings limit to $10,000 from a $2,000 cap frozen since 1989
A proposal moving through Congress takes aim at one of the oldest and most criticized numbers in the federal safety net: the $2,000 cap on...
Qualifying for both Medicare and Medicaid can cover nearly all out-of-pocket costs
For older Americans on a fixed income, the gap between what Medicare covers and what a patient pays can run into thousands of dollars a...
Turning 65 opens a six-month window to buy any Medigap policy without health questions
The single most valuable window in Medicare for a person turning 65 is one that closes quietly and never reopens on the same terms. For...
A widow who waits until survivor full retirement age can collect 100% of a late spouse’s check
Among the many timing rules in Social Security, one is unusually generous and unusually easy to forfeit. A surviving spouse who waits until reaching survivor...
Some Medicare Advantage plans return part of your Part B premium as a give-back
A small but real perk buried inside some Medicare Advantage plans can put money back in a retiree’s pocket every month: the Part B give-back....
Once a Medicare drug plan’s yearly out-of-pocket limit is reached, covered prescriptions cost nothing more that year
Medicare’s Part D drug benefit now carries a hard ceiling on what a member pays out of pocket in a year, and once that limit...
A dropped Medicare Advantage plan opens a special enrollment window from December 8 through the end of February
When a Medicare Advantage plan is discontinued for 2027, the members it drops are not left to the ordinary enrollment calendar. Medicare grants them a...
A federal audit found thousands of widows lost millions by claiming Social Security survivor benefits too early
A watchdog inside Social Security itself has documented a costly pattern: surviving spouses, most of them widows, who claimed benefits earlier than they had to...
Social Security is letting more people apply online as it clears a disability backlog
Social Security has spent much of the past year trying to fix one of the most common complaints about the agency: the wait. According to...
Without a fix, Social Security could pay only about 78% of benefits in the 2030s, a roughly 22% cut
A single figure from Social Security’s own actuaries has become the most-cited number in retirement planning: about 78 percent. That is the share of scheduled...