Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
Medicare’s 2027 deal cuts Ozempic and Wegovy to about $274, down 71%
Medicare’s drug price negotiators have pushed the cost of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus down to roughly $274 for a 30-day supply, a 71% cut from...
A spousal Social Security benefit can reach half of a higher-earning partner’s full check
A spouse who earned little or nothing over a working life can still collect a Social Security check worth up to half of a husband’s...
The 2027 Medicare Advantage retreat means checking whether your plan and doctors survive
Every October, the health and drug plans that cover Medicare beneficiaries file a new set of terms for the year ahead, and the changes can...
Medicare now caps a year’s out-of-pocket drug spending, shielding the sickest enrollees
Medicare’s prescription drug benefit now carries a hard annual limit on what enrollees pay for covered medications, a protection that did not exist before 2025....
A family maximum caps the total benefits a household can draw on one worker’s record
Social Security limits how much a single earnings record can pay out in a month, no matter how many spouses, children or survivors qualify on...
Social Security disability back pay can arrive as a lump sum covering months of waiting
A Social Security disability claim that takes a year or more to approve does not erase the months a person spent waiting without income. Once...
Social Security’s Ticket to Work lets beneficiaries try a job without an immediate benefit cut
Social Security disability beneficiaries who take a job do not automatically forfeit their monthly check the moment a paycheck arrives. The agency’s Ticket to Work...
Nursing-home care can run past $100,000 a year, and Medicare rarely covers a long stay
A year in a nursing home now carries a median price of $129,575 for a private room and $114,975 for a semi-private one, according to...
A Medigap plan can cover the 20% of costs Original Medicare leaves you to pay
Original Medicare pays 80 percent of the approved cost for most Part B services, and leaves the remaining 20 percent coinsurance to the patient, with...
A Medicare Advantage denial can be appealed, and a large share of denials get overturned
Millions of Medicare Advantage enrollees who ask an insurer to reconsider a denied prior-authorization request end up winning. Insurers made 52.8 million prior-authorization determinations in...
Medicare’s skilled-nursing coverage drops to partial after 20 days and ends at 100
Medicare’s coverage of a skilled nursing facility stay is not a flat guarantee; it is a taper that tightens in stages. The program pays the...
A three-day hospital stay is still the gateway to Medicare’s nursing-home coverage
Medicare will not pay for a stay in a skilled nursing facility unless a patient spent at least three consecutive days as a hospital inpatient,...
You can appeal a high-income Medicare premium surcharge after retiring, using a single form
A retiree can end up paying a Medicare surcharge sized to a salary they no longer earn, because Social Security sets the charge using a...
A Medicare give-back plan can return part of your Part B premium to your monthly check
A subset of Medicare Advantage plans uses a federal payment formula to shrink or erase the Part B premium most Medicare enrollees pay every month,...
Earning too much before full retirement age temporarily docks a Social Security check
A Social Security recipient who claims benefits before full retirement age and keeps earning a paycheck can watch part of that monthly check disappear, withheld...
Ohio State and Valley Health leave Medicare Advantage networks on October 1, and members lose in-network hospital care
Two Medicare Advantage networks fracture on the same date next week, and neither involves a plan folding or leaving the market. Ohio State University’s Wexner...
The “no tax on Social Security” promise turned out to be only a temporary $6,000 senior deduction that fades above $75,000
The federal law that took effect in 2025 did not eliminate income taxes on Social Security benefits, despite a campaign pledge that promised exactly that....
The Treasury is phasing out paper federal benefit checks, moving the last recipients to direct deposit or a debit card
The federal government has stopped issuing new paper checks for Social Security and most other federal benefit payments, and Treasury is now working to move...
A federal appeals court upheld Medicare’s power to negotiate drug prices, keeping January’s lower prices on 15 drugs on track
A federal appeals court has again rejected the pharmaceutical industry’s legal challenge to Medicare’s drug-price negotiation program, keeping the government on track to roll out...
Social Security is streamlining SSI so applications and reviews move faster with fewer errors
The Social Security Administration transmitted its 2026 Annual Report on the Supplemental Security Income program to the President and Congress on July 24, highlighting a...