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’s 2.8% COLA raised 2026 checks for about 75 million people
Social Security’s 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment is already embedded in 2026 payments for about 75 million people across Social Security and Supplemental Security Income. The increase...
Social Security’s lump-sum death payment remains $255, with strict family eligibility rules
Social Security’s one-time death payment is still $255, an amount so small beside modern funeral costs that its more important story is the narrow legal...
Waiting past full retirement age can erase six months of Social Security increases in a retroactive claim
Filing for Social Security after full retirement age can present an appealing offer: as many as six months of past-due checks paid at once. The...
Divorced after 10 years? Social Security survivor benefits may still be available
A decade-long marriage can preserve Social Security survivor rights long after a divorce ends the household’s finances. SSA allows a qualifying surviving divorced spouse to...
Working before full retirement age can trigger benefit withholding above $24,480 in 2026
Social Security does not bar early retirees from working, but it can hold back checks when 2026 earnings exceed $24,480 for someone below full retirement...
Claiming Social Security at 62 can permanently cut monthly retirement benefits by 30%
Age 62 is the first doorway into Social Security retirement benefits, but for workers born in 1960 or later it also fixes the payment at...
SSDI converts to retirement benefits at full retirement age without shrinking the monthly check
Reaching full retirement age does not create a second Social Security benefit for an SSDI recipient, nor does it trigger a smaller retirement check. SSA...
A surviving spouse can receive up to 100% of a deceased worker’s Social Security benefit
Social Security can replace as much as the deceased worker’s full benefit for an eligible surviving spouse, but “100%” describes a ceiling rather than an...
Disability claimants can now track hearings online and submit forms that affect benefit decisions
Social Security has moved several consequential parts of disability appeals into its online account system: hearing-level status tracking, three evidence forms, proffer letters and 26...
Social Security is expanding bank-account checks and payroll matching to prevent SSI overpayments
Supplemental Security Income can turn into a debt when SSA learns about wages or account balances months after paying benefits. The agency’s July 24 program...
Who can get Medicare’s entire $202.90 Part B premium covered in 2026?
Medicare’s standard Part B premium costs $202.90 a month in 2026, or $2,434.80 over a full year. Three state-run Medicare Savings Programs can pay that...
Medicare’s new bridge gives eligible beneficiaries GLP-1 drugs for a $50 monthly copay
Medicare’s GLP-1 Bridge turns a famously unpredictable drug cost into a fixed $50 monthly copay for people who qualify. The price is real, nationwide and...
Moffitt Cancer Center dropped Humana’s Medicare Advantage plans on July 1, leaving patients to switch coverage or pay out of network.
Cancer patients who relied on Moffitt Cancer Center through Humana Medicare Advantage plans lost in-network access to one of the country’s leading treatment facilities when...
Medicare will now offer certain GLP-1 weight-loss drugs for $50 a month through 2027 under a new federal program.
Millions of Medicare Part D enrollees can now fill prescriptions for certain GLP-1 weight-loss medications at a flat $50 copay per month, a price point...
$3,938.58 a month now goes to a veteran rated 100% disabled with no dependents, tax-free, under 2026 VA rates.
A veteran with a 100% disability rating and no dependents now receives $3,938.58 per month in tax-free compensation under the 2026 VA schedule. That single...
Senate Democrats have reintroduced a plan to add $200 a month to Social Security and SSI checks, but Congress must still act.
Millions of Americans who rely on Social Security and Supplemental Security Income would see an extra $200 added to their monthly checks for six months...
Medicare’s Part D drug deductible rises to $700 in 2027.
Medicare beneficiaries who rely on Part D prescription drug coverage will face a higher out-of-pocket threshold before their plans begin paying for medications in 2027....
A surviving divorced spouse can still collect Social Security on an ex who has died, if the marriage lasted at least 10 years.
Millions of Americans who ended long marriages assume their divorce severed every financial tie to a former spouse. That assumption can cost them thousands of...
A federal audit found thousands of widows lose money each year by claiming Social Security survivor benefits too early.
Thousands of surviving spouses lose tens of thousands of dollars in lifetime Social Security income because they claim benefits at the wrong time, according to...
Scammers can reroute your Social Security deposit online, and locking your my Social Security account blocks them in about two minutes.
Millions of Americans who depend on Social Security payments face a specific, documented threat: someone else can log into a my Social Security account and...