Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
A new Medicaid rule will cap the home equity that lets seniors qualify for nursing-home care at $1 million in 2028
A change tucked into the sweeping 2025 federal budget law will reshape how much home equity a senior can hold and still qualify for Medicaid...
Paper Social Security checks are ending this year, with holdouts moved to direct deposit or a prepaid card
The mailed Social Security check, a fixture of American retirement for generations, is disappearing this year. The Social Security Administration is finishing a move to...
Social Security now lets you repay an overpayment online through Pay.gov
Social Security has added an online way to repay a benefit overpayment, letting affected recipients settle the balance electronically through the federal Pay.gov system instead...
Medicare’s 2027 price cuts also reach the cancer drugs Ibrance and Xtandi
Four cancer drugs sit inside the same 2027 Medicare price cuts that lowered the cost of a common inhaler, and two of them treat conditions...
$994 a month is the new maximum SSI payment for an individual in 2026
The maximum federal Supplemental Security Income payment for a single person climbed to $994 a month in 2026, up from $967 the year before. For...
Medicare’s 2027 price cuts target the COPD inhaler Trelegy
Starting January 1, 2027, Medicare’s prescription drug program will pay a federally negotiated price for Trelegy Ellipta, the once-daily inhaler that millions of older Americans...
Medicare Advantage plans are cutting grocery allowances and over-the-counter cards for 2027
The grocery allowances, over-the-counter cards, and flexible spending perks that helped sell many Medicare Advantage plans are shrinking for the 2027 plan year. Insurers are...
Original Medicare has no out-of-pocket maximum, so one serious illness can run up unlimited bills
Original Medicare, the government-run coverage that pays for hospital and doctor care, carries no ceiling on what a beneficiary can owe in a single year....
Medicare’s Part B “give-back” benefit refunds part of your premium through certain Advantage plans
A feature buried in some Medicare Advantage plans, the Part B “give-back,” quietly hands part of the standard Part B premium back to enrollees by...
Medicaid’s five-year lookback can penalize seniors who gave money away before applying for nursing-home care
Older Americans who hand money to their children, help a grandchild with a down payment, or sign the family home over to a relative sometimes...
Retire mid-year and Social Security’s monthly earnings test lets you collect full checks even over the annual limit
A worker who earns a full salary through June and then retires can still collect a full Social Security check for July, August, and every...
Widows and widowers can switch between a survivor benefit and their own Social Security to claim the bigger check
A widow or widower sitting on two possible Social Security checks — one earned on a late spouse’s record, one on their own — does...
A spouse who never worked can still collect up to half of the other spouse’s Social Security
A person who never earned a paycheck, never paid Social Security taxes, and never built a work record of their own can still draw a...
Restarting student-loan collections can dock up to 15% of a retiree’s Social Security check
Up to 15 percent of a monthly Social Security check can be redirected to a defaulted federal student loan once the government switches collections back...
$750 a month is the most the government must leave you when it garnishes a Social Security check for old federal debts
Roughly $750 a month is the legal minimum the federal government must leave inside a Social Security check when it reaches into that check to...
Social Security’s taxable wage base is projected to rise to $190,200 in 2027, so high earners would pay the tax on $5,700 more
Social Security’s taxable wage base, the ceiling on earnings subject to the program’s payroll tax, is projected to climb to $190,200 in 2027, up from...
The 2027 Social Security cost-of-living raise is now tracking near 3.8%, up from this year’s 2.8%
The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2027 is currently tracking near 3.8 percent, according to the latest estimate from a leading retiree advocacy group, up...
Who qualifies for the biggest Social Security check of $5,251 a month in 2026?
The largest Social Security check anyone collects in 2026 tops out at $5,251 a month, a number that sounds attainable until the requirements come into...
Ozempic’s price under Medicare drops to $274 a month from $959 on January 1
The negotiated Medicare price for Ozempic will fall to $274 a month on January 1, down from a list price of $959, one of the...
About 3.2 million teachers, police and public workers are getting bigger Social Security checks and back pay
About 3.2 million retired teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees are seeing larger Social Security payments and, in most cases, a one-time lump...