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% raise adds about $56 a month — but a $17.90 Medicare Part B premium hike claws back nearly half
Retirees counting on a bigger Social Security check in 2026 will find that a simultaneous Medicare premium increase eats into nearly a third of the...
Retirees under full retirement age can earn up to $24,480 in 2026 before Social Security starts holding back benefits
Workers collecting Social Security before they hit full retirement age face a hard earnings ceiling in 2026: $24,480. Every dollar earned above that line triggers...
Medicare’s new $50 weight-loss drug benefit could cost taxpayers billions, analysts warn before its July 1 launch
Starting July 1, 2026, millions of Medicare beneficiaries will be able to fill prescriptions for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs at a flat $50 per month, a...
Social Security’s full retirement age finally reaches 67 this November for everyone born in 1960 — and claiming at 62 locks in a 30% smaller check for life
Americans born in 1960 will turn 67 starting this November, completing a four-decade phase-in that raises Social Security’s full retirement age to its final statutory...
Medicare will cover Wegovy and Zepbound for a $50 copay starting July 1, its first obesity-drug coverage in over 20 years
Millions of Medicare enrollees with obesity will be able to fill prescriptions for Wegovy and Zepbound at a flat $50 monthly copay starting July 1,...
A new Social Security retirement calculator went live inside the my Social Security portal this month — it shows your monthly check side by side at every claiming age
For years, the Social Security Administration told you what your benefit would be at three ages: 62, full retirement age, and 70. If you wanted...
Wartime veterans and their surviving spouses can claim up to $2,873 a month in Aid and Attendance pension — yet many families miss it because the rules sound too narrow
A veteran’s spouse pays $4,200 a month for a home health aide. A widow on a fixed income drains her savings to cover assisted-living fees....
A surviving spouse can switch to the higher earner’s Social Security check — and timing the switch right can mean hundreds more a month for life
A 63-year-old widow collecting $1,100 a month on her own Social Security record could, at full retirement age, switch to a survivor benefit worth $2,800...
A new $6,000 tax deduction for everyone over 65 can wipe out the tax on your Social Security — but it shrinks once income tops $75,000
A retired teacher collecting $22,000 a year in Social Security and drawing another $55,000 from a pension might have owed federal income tax on a...
Three Medicare programs will pay your $202.90 Part B premium in full and save you $2,400 a year — yet millions who qualify never sign up
Picture this: you’re 72, living on $1,200 a month in Social Security, and every four weeks Medicare takes $202.90 off the top before you’ve bought...
Working before full retirement age can shrink your Social Security check — but that money isn’t gone; benefits are recalculated upward once you reach full retirement age
Picture this: a 63-year-old who filed for Social Security early opens a pay stub and discovers the government withheld hundreds of dollars from the monthly...
Your first required retirement withdrawal can be delayed to April — but that forces two taxable withdrawals into one year and can spike your Medicare premiums
If you turned 73 in 2025 and hold a traditional IRA, the IRS technically gives you until April 1, 2026, to take your first required...
Claimed Social Security too early? You get one 12-month do-over — repay what you’ve received and restart later for a permanently bigger check
Every month, thousands of Americans file for Social Security at 62 and lock in a benefit roughly 30% smaller than what they would collect at...
A spouse who never worked can still collect up to half of your Social Security — a spousal benefit many married couples don’t realize they can claim
After 35 years of marriage, Linda and Robert Garcia sat down at their kitchen table in Tucson to plan retirement. Robert had worked as an...
The income limits that make Social Security benefits taxable haven’t budged since 1984 — so every year, more retirees owe federal tax on checks they assumed were safe
A retired teacher in Ohio pulling $22,000 a year from her pension and $1,800 a month in Social Security would not strike most people as...
Retirees hit with Medicare’s high-income surcharge can appeal it after a life change like retiring or divorcing — a refund worth thousands that most never request
A retired teacher in her late 60s stops working in June, watches her income drop by half, and then opens her first Medicare bill to...
Paper Social Security and tax checks are being phased out for good — nearly half a million recipients still getting one must switch to direct deposit or a prepaid card
Sometime after September 30, 2025, the last batch of paper checks from the U.S. Treasury will drop into American mailboxes. After that, they stop for...
Medicare negotiated prices on 10 of its costliest drugs for the first time — seniors on some will pay less than half, and insulin is capped at $35
A Medicare enrollee filling a monthly prescription for Eliquis, one of the most commonly prescribed blood thinners in the country, has been paying a price...
Insurers are about to drop nearly 3 million seniors from Medicare Advantage plans — the first enrollment decline since 2010, even as average premiums fall to $14
For 15 consecutive years, Medicare Advantage enrollment moved in only one direction: up. Every year since 2010, more seniors chose the privately run alternative to...
High earners will pay up to $649 a month for Medicare Part B this year — more than triple the standard $202.90, thanks to income surcharges most retirees never expect
Picture a retired corporate vice president opening her first Medicare billing notice. She expected to pay $202.90 a month for Part B, the same figure...