Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
Losing a Medicare Advantage plan for 2027 opens a penalty-free window to switch
When a Medicare Advantage plan tells its members it will not renew for the coming year, the letter can read like a dead end. It...
Miss your Medicare Part B sign-up window and the late penalty can raise your premium for life
The penalty for signing up late for Medicare Part B is not a one-time fee that a person pays and forgets. It is a surcharge...
Medicare’s Part B premium could reach $209.50 in 2027, about $6.60 more a month
The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report projects that the standard Part B premium could rise to about $209.50 a month in 2027, roughly $6.60 more than...
Enroll in Medicare and you must stop funding a health savings account, or the IRS adds a tax penalty
A worker who keeps a job past 65 and stays on a high-deductible health plan often assumes the health savings account can keep filling up...
A retiree hit with a high Medicare premium after a one-time income spike can appeal it with Form SSA-44
Medicare bases its premium surcharges on a tax return that is nearly two years old, and for a newly retired household that lag can trigger...
Medicare’s QMB program bars doctors from billing enrolled seniors, yet many still get charged
A federal safeguard called the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program is built to make one thing impossible: a doctor, hospital, or pharmacy sending an enrolled beneficiary...
Medicare covers a yearly wellness visit at no cost, but it isn’t the full physical many expect
Medicare pays the full cost of a yearly wellness visit, with no copayment and no deductible for the beneficiary, which is one of the more...
Medicare’s Part D drug deductible climbs to $700 in 2027, the amount you pay before coverage starts
Medicare’s prescription-drug coverage will ask beneficiaries to pay more out of pocket before it kicks in next year. The standard Part D deductible rises to...
File for Social Security and regret it? You can withdraw the claim within 12 months, repay, and reset for more later
Claiming Social Security early is one of the few retirement decisions that feels permanent the moment it is made, yet the program keeps a narrow...
A spouse who never worked can still collect up to half the higher earner’s Social Security at full retirement age
A person who never held a paying job, or never worked long enough to earn a Social Security benefit of their own, is not shut...
Forty-one states don’t tax Social Security benefits, so where you retire changes how much of your check you keep
Two retirees can draw the identical Social Security check and keep very different amounts of it, and the reason is a state line. Forty-one states,...
A federal audit found 5,367 widows lost $113.8 million by claiming survivor benefits early
The Social Security Administration’s own watchdog recently attached a dollar figure to a decision thousands of surviving spouses make quietly every year. An Office of...
Born before January 2, 1954? You can claim only a spousal Social Security check and let your own grow until 70
A single date on the calendar quietly divides Social Security claimants into two groups, and the people on the older side of it hold a...
Social Security money withheld for working before full retirement age isn’t lost — your check is recalculated upward later
One of the most damaging misconceptions in retirement planning is that a person who keeps working and claims Social Security early simply forfeits the benefits...
Medicare’s 2027 drug cap falls to $2,400, then covered prescriptions cost nothing
The most a Medicare drug plan will require an enrollee to spend out of pocket on covered prescriptions in 2027 is set at $2,400, and...
Original Medicare now requires prior approval for some procedures in a handful of states
For decades, one of the clearest advantages of traditional Medicare over private Medicare Advantage plans was the absence of prior authorization. A patient in Original...
Social Security disability checks convert automatically to retirement checks at full retirement age, with no drop in the amount
Millions of Americans who collect Social Security Disability Insurance carry a quiet worry into their sixties: whether reaching retirement age will shrink the payment they...
Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to pay just 78% of benefits after 2032 unless Congress acts
The reserve that cushions Social Security’s retirement benefits is now projected to run dry in the fourth quarter of 2032, and once it does, incoming...
Medicare’s 2027 plan-change notices arrive by September 30, and ignoring yours can lock you into a worse plan
Each fall, every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan mails a document that decides how much its members pay the following year, and it is...
Who still pays federal tax on Social Security? Retirees whose combined income tops limits frozen since 1984
A retiree owes federal income tax on Social Security only when a specific measure of income climbs above $25,000 for a single filer or $32,000...