Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
USA Health and UnitedHealthcare extended talks to November 1, after which Medicare Advantage members could be out of network at Mobile’s University Hospital
USA Health and UnitedHealthcare have agreed to a 30-day extension of their contract talks, and UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage members stay in network at the system’s...
Utah Adult Expansion and Targeted Adult Medicaid members must log 80 hours a month or meet an income test, and renew every six months, starting January 1, 2027
Utah Medicaid has put two changes in a letter to members: a monthly activity test and a review of eligibility every six months, both starting...
SNAP work rules in Wisconsin now cover FoodShare adults ages 18 to 64
Wisconsin’s FoodShare work requirement now covers adults ages 18 to 64, including parents whose children at home are 14 or older, the state Department of...
Renown Health stops scheduling out-of-network Medicare Advantage patients in Reno on January 1, 2027
Renown Health in Reno, Nevada, will stop scheduling appointments for patients on Medicare Advantage plans that leave it out of their networks, starting January 1,...
White River Health expects to leave UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage networks on January 1, 2027
White River Health in Arkansas says it expects to be out of network with UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans starting January 1, 2027. The hospital system...
Kentucky Medicaid expansion adults must show 80 hours of work or activities, or qualifying income, in three of the six months before renewal starting January 1, 2027
Kentucky is not asking Medicaid expansion adults to hit 80 hours in a single month. Starting January 1, 2027, the state will look back over...
More than 230,000 New Mexico Medicaid members are being notified about 80-hour monthly work or activity rules and six-month renewals starting January 1, 2027
A turquoise envelope is turning up in New Mexico mailboxes, and the state’s Health Care Authority says the letter inside is not a termination. More...
About 638,000 people on Medicare in 193 counties will have no Medicare Advantage drug plan open to general enrollment in 2027, including all of Alaska, KFF finds
KFF counts 193 counties where no Medicare Advantage drug plan will be open to general enrollment in 2027. About 638,000 people on Medicare live in...
SNAP benefits for New Mexico adults 18 to 64 may stop after three missed months without 80 work or activity hours, except in Luna County and four pueblos
New Mexico adults 18 to 64 who get SNAP can lose the benefit after three missed months if they do not log 80 hours a...
Kettering Health’s 14 Dayton-area medical centers go out of network for Anthem Medicare Advantage members on January 1, 2027, after the system declined to renew
Kettering Health, the Dayton-based nonprofit system with 14 medical centers across western Ohio, will not renew its contract with Anthem’s Medicare Advantage plans, and the...
SNAP work rules now cover about 18,000 more Minnesotans a month through age 64, after waived areas shrank from 17 counties and nine Tribal Nations to three, the state says
Minnesota’s SNAP work rules now reach about 18,000 more adults in an average month, because the federal 2025 reconciliation law raised the upper age from...
Providence Health Assurance is discontinuing all of its Medicare Supplement plans, and members’ current coverage ends March 31, 2027
Providence Health Assurance says it is discontinuing all of its Medicare Supplement plans, and members’ current coverage runs only through March 31, 2027. Anyone who...
SNAP benefits for about 440,000 Minnesotans are expected to run about $5 a month lower on average than they would otherwise, starting October 1, 2027, the state says
Minnesota expects about 440,000 people who receive SNAP to get about $5 a month less on average in 2027 than they would have without a...
About 417,000 Arizona AHCCCS adults ages 19 to 64 must show 80 hours a month of approved activity or qualifying income starting January 1, 2027, or risk losing Medicaid
Arizona adults in Medicaid’s expansion group will have to prove 80 hours a month of approved activity, or at least $580 in monthly income, to...
Social Security now runs an electronic search of SSI applicants’ bank accounts to find ones they never reported, and no one can get SSI without allowing it
Social Security now runs an electronic search of the bank accounts of people applying for Supplemental Security Income, looking for accounts the applicant never mentioned....
Social Security says a representative payee must spend a beneficiary’s check on that person’s needs and save what is left
A representative payee, the person Social Security appoints to manage someone else’s benefits, has to spend the check on that person’s needs and put away...
VA plans to keep mailing residency checks to about 14,593 beneficiaries a year paid at the full-dollar rate
VA generally pays benefits based on Philippine service at half the usual rate, unless the veteran or survivor lives in the United States. That is...
VA processed a record 3,111,399 disability compensation claims in fiscal 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs processed 3,111,399 disability compensation claims in fiscal year 2026, more than it has ever finished in a single year. The...
South Dakota will limit Medicaid expansion adults to one month of retroactive coverage starting January 1, 2027
South Dakota will cut the backdated coverage available to Medicaid expansion adults from three months to one month for applications on or after January 1,...
North Carolina and Illinois expansion adults renew Medicaid every six months from January 1
Medicaid expansion adults in North Carolina and Illinois will renew their coverage every six months instead of once a year, starting January 1, 2027. Both...