Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
The trustees expect Social Security’s combined funds to pay full benefits only through 2034
Roughly 65 million Americans who depend on Social Security checks each month now face a shorter runway before those payments shrink automatically. The Social Security...
Rural seniors are nearly twice as likely to lose their Medicare Advantage plan
Roughly one in ten Medicare Advantage enrollees face forced disenrollment in 2026, and seniors living in rural counties bear a sharply disproportionate share of that...
Social Security’s retirement trust fund will empty one quarter sooner than projected, triggering a 22% benefit cut in late 2032 unless Congress acts
Tens of millions of Americans collecting Social Security retirement checks face a 22 percent benefit cut as early as late 2032 unless Congress changes the...
Who qualifies for Medicare’s new $50 coverage of Wegovy and Zepbound starting July 1?
Starting July 1, 2026, millions of Medicare beneficiaries with obesity will gain access to Wegovy, Zepbound, and Foundayo for a $50 monthly copay through a...
Retirees who claim before full retirement age lose $1 in benefits for every $2 they earn above $24,480 this year
Workers collecting Social Security before they hit full retirement age and earning more than $24,480 in 2026 will see their benefits cut, dollar for dollar,...
Medicare’s new $50 weight-loss coverage requires a body-mass index of 27 plus another condition like heart disease
Medicare beneficiaries with a body-mass index of 27 or higher and a history of heart attack, stroke, symptomatic peripheral artery disease, or prediabetes will gain...
Medicare Advantage out-of-pocket maximums have climbed about $900 in two years as plans trim extra benefits
Seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans are absorbing sharply higher potential costs at the worst possible moment: out-of-pocket maximums have risen by roughly $900 over...
Medicare’s $50 weight-loss copay stays flat through 2027
Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for GLP-1 weight-loss medications will pay a fixed $50 for each monthly supply from July 1, 2026, through December 31, 2027,...
Medicare’s weight-loss coverage includes Wegovy and Zepbound, not Ozempic for weight loss
Medicare beneficiaries with Part D coverage will gain access to certain GLP-1 drugs for weight loss starting July 1, 2026, but the list of eligible...
Insurers are pulling Medicare Advantage plans out of more counties, and 7 in 10 expect to cover less in 2027
Medicare Advantage enrollees in dozens of counties face a shrinking menu of plan options for 2027 as insurers respond to tighter federal payment parameters and...
A 22% Social Security cut would take roughly a quarter of every retiree’s check the year the fund runs dry
Every retiree collecting Social Security faces a potential 22 percent pay cut the moment the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund runs out of reserves,...
Medicare is paying Advantage insurers 2.48% more next year, yet most plans expect to cover less
Seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans will see their insurers collect 2.48 percent more from the federal government in 2027, an increase worth more than...
Medicare’s negotiated price for Ozempic drops to $274 a month next year, down from a $959 list price
Medicare beneficiaries who rely on Ozempic for diabetes management will pay sharply less starting January 1, 2027, when a federally negotiated price of $274 per...
Social Security and Medicare both moved their insolvency dates closer this year
The two trust funds that finance monthly checks for tens of millions of retirees and hospital coverage for seniors both lost ground in the latest...
Nearly 3 million Medicare Advantage members were forced to switch plans this year, the highest rate ever recorded
Nearly 3 million Medicare Advantage enrollees had to abandon their health plans this year after insurers exited markets or terminated contracts, setting a record for...
Medicare’s 2027 Part B premium is projected at $209.50 a month, about $80 more a year for most retirees
Most of the roughly 67 million Americans enrolled in Medicare Part B will pay about $80 more per year starting in 2027 if the latest...
Only a handful of states still tax Social Security benefits, and the list keeps shrinking
Retirees collecting Social Security in a shrinking number of states face a decision point as legislatures accelerate the elimination of state-level taxes on those benefits....
A drop in income after retirement can lower the higher Medicare premium you were charged
Retirees who stopped earning a paycheck in 2024 or 2025 may still be paying Medicare premiums based on their peak working-year income, because Social Security...
Full Social Security checks are flowing again to millions of public workers after a 2025 repeal
More than 2.8 million retired public workers are now receiving their full Social Security payments after decades of reductions tied to non-covered government pensions. The...
A 4.7% Social Security raise for 2027 would be the fourth-largest in 36 years
A 4.7% Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2027 would hand beneficiaries the fourth-largest annual raise in 36 years, trailing only the 8.7% increase in 2023,...