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 disability checks convert to retirement checks at full retirement age with no drop in the amount
People who have spent years on Social Security disability often brace for a shock as full retirement age approaches, worried the payments will shrink or...
A PACE program blends Medicare and Medicaid to keep frail seniors at home instead of a nursing facility
The cost of a nursing home now runs well past $100,000 a year in much of the country, a number that can drain a lifetime...
Original Medicare is testing prior authorization for some outpatient procedures in six states
A long-standing feature of Original Medicare is quietly being tested away in six states. Traditional fee-for-service Medicare has historically let a beneficiary and doctor schedule...
A new 2027 rule strips Medicare sales safeguards, so seniors face harder sales pitches before Open Enrollment
The rules that govern how Medicare Advantage plans are sold just got looser, and the change lands right before the season when seniors decide their...
CMS set the 2027 Part D base premium at $41.33, the largest increase the law allows
Medicare put a hard number on next year’s drug-plan math, and it moved as far up as the statute permits. On July 28, 2026, the...
Fifteen Medicare drugs get 2027 price cuts of 38% to 85%, from diabetes to cancer treatments
Medicare’s second negotiation round did more than lower one blockbuster drug. It reset the price of 15 medicines at once, with cuts running from 38...
Presbyterian Health Plan is dropping most Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, pushing about 30,000 members to switch
Roughly 30,000 New Mexico retirees are about to lose the Medicare Advantage coverage they have now, after Presbyterian Health Plan decided to walk away from...
Filing Form SSA-44 can erase a Medicare IRMAA surcharge after retirement drops your income
A retiree who stops working can pay a Medicare surcharge for two years on income no longer being earned, sometimes hundreds of dollars a month...
The Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program can pay your entire Part B premium and block providers from billing you
A little-used corner of Medicaid can cover a Medicare enrollee’s entire Part B premium, roughly $2,200 a year at the standard rate, and then go...
A dropped Medicare Advantage plan triggers a 63-day guaranteed right to buy any Medigap policy with no health questions
A wave of Medicare Advantage plans is disappearing for 2027, and the retirees getting non-renewal letters are about to run into one of Medicare’s most...
A widow can claim a survivor benefit first and switch to her own larger Social Security later
A widow who qualifies for Social Security on both her late husband’s record and her own is not forced to pick one and live with...
Ozempic’s Medicare price drops from $959 to $274 a month in 2027 under the new drug deal
Medicare’s second round of drug-price negotiations produced its headline number, and it belongs to the diabetes drug seniors ask about most. Beginning in 2027, the...
Full retirement age hits 67 in 2026, and claiming at 62 now locks in a check about 30% smaller for life
The last stair in a decades-long climb has now been reached. For everyone born in 1960 or later, Social Security’s full retirement age stands at...
Social Security restored 50% clawbacks on overpayments, but a debt of $2,000 or less is easier to get waived
The Social Security Administration now recovers many overpayments by withholding up to half of a monthly retirement, survivor, or disability check, a rate that sat...
Trump is ending a subsidy that held down Medicare drug premiums, and about 25 million seniors could pay more in 2027
The Trump administration has decided to let a Medicare cushion expire, and the timing lands squarely on drug-plan shoppers. On July 28, 2026, the Centers...
Divorced spouses married at least 10 years can claim up to half an ex’s Social Security without lowering the ex’s check
Many divorced retirees assume that walking away from a marriage also meant walking away from any claim on a former partner’s Social Security. It did...
Claiming Social Security retroactively for six months as a lump sum permanently shrinks every future monthly check
Social Security dangles a quiet offer at anyone who files for retirement after full retirement age: a single payment covering up to six months of...
Providence Health Plan is shutting down entirely, and about 64,000 Medicare Advantage members must find 2027 coverage
Providence Health Plan, a Pacific Northwest insurer that has operated for more than four decades, is now winding down completely, and about 64,000 Medicare Advantage...
Humana is mailing September non-renewal letters to about 600,000 Medicare Advantage members losing plans in 2027
About 600,000 older Americans are about to open a letter from Humana telling them the Medicare Advantage plan they rely on will not exist in...
Presbyterian is dropping most of its Medicare Advantage plans in New Mexico for 2027, and about 30,000 members must find new coverage
Presbyterian Healthcare Services, one of New Mexico’s largest health systems, is discontinuing most of its Medicare Advantage plans for the 2027 plan year, a decision...