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’s 2027 Part B premium is now projected near $209.50, below last year’s forecast
Medicare’s standard Part B premium is projected to reach $209.50 a month in 2027, according to the most recent federal trustees report, an increase of...
Next year’s Social Security raise is now tracking near 3.6%, and many retirees say it still won’t cover their bills
Social Security’s 2027 cost-of-living adjustment is now tracking near 3.6%, according to the latest monthly estimate from The Senior Citizens League, released August 12 after...
In 2026, home equity above $752,000 can cost a senior their Medicaid nursing-home coverage
A house that a family has always treated as a protected asset can become the very thing that blocks Medicaid coverage for a nursing home....
Medicare’s general enrollment window runs January 1 to March 31 for anyone who missed signing up
Every year from January 1 to March 31, Medicare runs a general enrollment period that acts as a safety net for people who missed their...
Some states let you switch Medigap plans around your birthday without any health questions
A little-known state protection called the birthday rule gives Medicare Supplement policyholders in a handful of states a yearly chance to change plans without answering...
Withdraw your Social Security application within 12 months and you can restart at a higher future benefit
Filing for Social Security feels permanent, but the government builds in a narrow escape hatch for anyone who moves too soon. A retiree who claims...
Social Security cut 13% of its staff, and some seniors are claiming early
The federal agency that sends benefits to tens of millions of retirees has shed roughly 13 percent of its workforce, and the strain is starting...
Social Security’s tax thresholds haven’t moved since 1984, so more retirees owe every year
When Congress first made Social Security benefits taxable, it drew the income lines in 1984 dollars and then left them there. A single retiree still...
October 15 opens the one yearly window to leave a Medicare Advantage plan that dropped you
Every autumn, Medicare opens a single stretch of the calendar when coverage decisions made months earlier can finally be undone. From October 15 through December...
Fifteen negotiated Medicare drug prices, including Ozempic, begin in January and should save seniors $685 million
Medicare’s second round of drug price negotiations is now settled, and the outcome lands squarely on the wallets of older Americans who fill prescriptions every...
About 25 health systems have quit Medicare Advantage this year, and a mid-year exit can open a rare window to switch
About 25 health systems have stopped accepting at least some Medicare Advantage plans during 2026, a run of network exits that can strand enrollees far...
Presbyterian is dropping most of its Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, pushing about 30,000 members to switch
About 30,000 Medicare Advantage members in New Mexico will have to find new coverage for 2027 after Presbyterian Health Plan said it is dropping most...
Next year’s Social Security raise is now estimated as low as 3.4% as inflation cools
The projected 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment slipped again this week, with one closely watched estimate now as low as 3.4% after fresh inflation data....
Trump is ending a subsidy that kept Medicare drug premiums down, and about 25 million seniors could pay more in 2027
The federal government is winding down a multibillion-dollar program that has quietly held down Medicare Part D drug premiums, a shift that could push monthly...
Fifteen Medicare drugs, including Ozempic, get price cuts of 38% to 85% in 2027
On November 25, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced negotiated prices for a second round of high-cost prescription drugs, and the reductions...
Original Medicare pays nothing toward long-term custodial care, which averages more than $9,500 a month
A room in a nursing home now runs well past $9,500 a month, and for the single largest expense many older Americans will ever face,...
Two nights in the hospital under observation instead of admitted can cost thousands and block nursing coverage
Two patients can occupy identical hospital beds, receive the same tests, and stay the same number of nights, yet walk out with very different bills...
Original Medicare covers no routine dental, vision, or hearing, a gap that surprises new retirees
Millions of Americans reach 65 assuming Medicare will cover the basics of staying healthy, only to learn that three everyday needs fall outside it entirely....
Social Security’s retirement fund is projected to pay only 78% of benefits after 2032 without a fix
Each year the trustees who oversee Social Security publish a projection that lands like a warning shot, and the latest is no different: on the...
Up to 15% of a Social Security check can be garnished for defaulted student loans, though $750 is protected
Federal law lets the government reach into a Social Security check to collect on a defaulted student loan, withholding up to 15 percent of the...