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 counts your highest 35 years, so one more year of work can replace a zero and lift your check
Social Security bases every retirement check on a worker’s 35 highest-earning years, a quirk of the formula that quietly reshapes millions of monthly benefits. For...
A spousal Social Security benefit maxes out at half the worker’s full amount
The most a spousal Social Security benefit can ever reach is half of what the working spouse would collect at full retirement age — no...
Claiming Social Security at 62 locks in a check about 30% smaller for life
Filing for Social Security at 62, the earliest age most workers can, permanently trims the monthly benefit by about 30 percent for anyone whose full...
About 2 million seniors skip $11.4 billion in Medicare Extra Help each year
Roughly 2 million older Americans who qualify for Medicare’s most valuable prescription-drug subsidy never sign up for it, leaving an estimated $11.4 billion in assistance...
Fifteen more prescription drugs face Medicare price cuts in 2028, and for the first time the list includes doctor-administered Part B medicines
Medicare took its price-negotiation program into new territory this year, naming 15 more prescription drugs whose costs the government will bargain down for 2028 and,...
Who can get their entire $202.90 Medicare Part B premium paid? Limited-income seniors enrolled in a Medicare Savings Program
The standard Medicare Part B premium climbed to $202.90 a month in 2026, an increase of nearly $18 that lands on every enrollee’s Social Security...
Social Security’s 50% overpayment clawback still spares SSI recipients at 10%
When the Social Security Administration decides it paid someone too much, it can now recover the money by withholding half of that person’s monthly benefit,...
A divorced spouse can claim on an ex’s Social Security at 62 if the marriage lasted 10 years and they haven’t remarried
A divorce does not erase a person’s claim to Social Security built on a former spouse’s earnings record. As long as the marriage lasted at...
A dropped Medicare Advantage plan triggers a guaranteed right to buy any Medigap policy
Losing a Medicare Advantage plan through no choice of one’s own opens a door that is normally hard to walk through: the right to buy...
Waiting until survivor full retirement age unlocks a late spouse’s entire Social Security check
A surviving spouse who claims Social Security survivor benefits before reaching full retirement age gives up a permanent slice of the late partner’s check —...
Next year’s Social Security raise is tracking near 3.8%, enough to push the average spousal check past $1,000 for the first time
The projected 2027 cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security is holding near 3.8 percent, according to the latest independent forecast, and that estimate comes attached to...
Medicare covers 100 days of skilled nursing care, but pays fully for only 20
Many families first learn Medicare’s limits on nursing care in the middle of a crisis, after a parent leaves the hospital and needs weeks of...
Medicaid’s five-year look-back penalizes seniors who gave away money before applying for nursing-home care
Older adults who move money to their children or into gifts before applying for long-term-care Medicaid often assume the transfers are a private matter. They...
Medicare’s high-income surcharge looks back two years, so a 2025 spike can raise your 2027 premium
Medicare premiums are widely assumed to track a retiree’s current income, but the program’s surcharge for higher earners runs on a built-in delay. The extra...
A Medicare Savings Program can also cover your Part A and Part B deductibles
Many people assume the help Medicare offers with the cost of coverage begins and ends with premiums. In fact, a set of programs run through...
Original Medicare has no out-of-pocket cap, so one illness can bring unlimited bills
One feature of traditional Medicare catches many people off guard the first time a serious illness strikes: there is no ceiling on what the program...
Social Security’s earnings limit jumps to $65,160 the year you reach full retirement age
Working while collecting Social Security does not automatically shrink a retiree’s benefit, but earning above a certain threshold can trigger withholding under a rule known...
A widow can claim a reduced survivor benefit at 60, then switch to her own at 70
A widow who loses a spouse in her early 60s often faces a choice that looks like an either-or decision but is really a matter...
Claiming Social Security early forces you to take spousal benefits at the same time
A common piece of Social Security folklore holds that a married person can claim a small retirement check early, let it run for years, and...
A spouse caring for a worker’s young child can draw Social Security at any age
Most people assume Social Security spousal benefits are locked behind an age gate, available only once a husband or wife reaches the early-claiming floor of...