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 disabled widow or widower can begin collecting Social Security survivor benefits as early as 50, years before the usual 60
A surviving spouse living with a disability can start collecting Social Security survivor benefits at age 50, a full decade before the standard eligibility age...
Social Security now blocks about 70,000 fraudulent attempts a year to reroute someone’s deposit, and it no longer takes bank changes by phone
The Social Security Administration now stops roughly 70,000 fraudulent attempts each year to reroute beneficiary payments to unauthorized bank accounts. The agency ended routine phone-based...
$9,250 caps a Medicare Advantage plan’s 2026 in-network costs, a limit Original Medicare lacks
Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans will face a maximum out-of-pocket spending limit of $9,250 for in-network services in 2026, a federally mandated ceiling...
$162,660 in savings and the family home stay with the healthy spouse when a partner goes on Medicaid for a nursing home
Married couples face a stark financial divide when one spouse needs nursing home care paid by Medicaid. Federal rules effective January 1, 2026, allow the...
Born in 1959? Your Social Security full retirement age is 66 and 10 months, so claiming at 66 in 2026 still trims your check
Americans born in 1959 who file for Social Security at age 66 this year will lock in a permanent benefit cut of roughly 4.2 percent....
Medicare pays 80% of your doctor bills and nothing caps the other 20%, which is why many retirees carry Medigap
Millions of retirees on Original Medicare face a cost-sharing structure that covers 80 percent of Part B doctor bills after the deductible but places no...
$994 is SSI’s 2026 monthly max for one person, $1,491 for a couple
Millions of Americans who depend on Supplemental Security Income will collect no more than $994 a month as a single recipient in 2026, up from...
Humana is cutting Medicare Advantage plans to 85% of U.S. counties for 2027
Humana is planning to pull its Medicare Advantage offerings from a significant share of U.S. counties ahead of the 2027 plan year, narrowing its footprint...
Medicare is negotiating lower prices on 15 more brand-name drugs for 2028
Millions of Medicare beneficiaries who rely on expensive brand-name medications could see lower out-of-pocket costs starting January 1, 2028, after the Centers for Medicare and...
Forty work credits, roughly 10 years, qualify you for Social Security
Americans who have paid Social Security taxes across roughly 10 years of work reach the 40-credit threshold that determines whether they qualify for retirement benefits....
Medicare now covers glucose monitors for many insulin users, replacing finger-stick strips
Medicare beneficiaries who use insulin now have a broader path to continuous glucose monitors, a shift that could make daily finger-stick test strips obsolete for...
Medicare covers hospice care in full, including drugs and nursing, for those given six months or less to live
People enrolled in Medicare Part A who receive a terminal diagnosis with a life expectancy of six months or less can access hospice services at...
A retired social worker who lost $300,000 to a gold-coin scam is now getting hit with a surprise Medicare surcharge on the savings she drained
A retired social worker who lost $300,000 to a gold-coin scam is now facing a second financial blow she never expected: a Medicare surcharge triggered...
Retirees can have federal tax pulled straight from a Social Security check with Form W-4V, heading off an April surprise
Retirees who collect Social Security benefits and earn enough other income to cross federal tax thresholds often discover they owe money only when they sit...
California’s Medi-Cal asset cap returns this month: $130,000 single, $195,000 per couple
Seniors and people with disabilities enrolled in non-MAGI Medi-Cal programs now face asset limits for the first time in years. As of January 1, 2026,...
$25,000 for singles and $32,000 for couples is where Social Security benefits start getting taxed, a line frozen since 1984
Millions of retirees filing federal tax returns in 2026 face a threshold that has not moved in more than four decades. The income lines that...
Social Security has started recovering money from about 1 million people it overpaid, withholding up to half of each monthly check until the debt is cleared
About a million Social Security beneficiaries who were overpaid now face automatic deductions of up to half their monthly checks after the agency raised its...
$1,736 is Medicare’s 2026 hospital deductible, resetting each benefit period
Medicare beneficiaries admitted to a hospital in 2026 will owe $1,736 before coverage kicks in, and that charge can hit more than once in the...
$3,938.58 a month, tax-free, now goes to a veteran rated 100% disabled, with more added for a spouse and children
Starting in January 2026, a veteran rated 100 percent disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs receives $3,938.58 each month, entirely free of federal taxes....
Over-income seniors can still get nursing-home Medicaid through a Miller income trust
Seniors whose monthly income exceeds Medicaid’s special income level face a stark choice when they need nursing-home care: spend down savings fast, pay out of...