Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
Clergy who opted out of Social Security would get a one-time chance to opt back in for 2029 or 2030 under a bill now headed to Trump
Congress has cleared H.R. 227, the Clergy Act, which would let ministers who gave up Social Security coverage reverse that choice once. The House passed...
Fifteen Medicare Advantage drug plan contracts earned five stars for 2027, and enrollees can switch into a five-star plan once through November 30, 2027, where one is offered
The federal government’s 2027 Star Ratings for Medicare health and drug coverage, released October 8, name 15 Medicare Advantage contracts with drug coverage as five-star...
Kettering Health near Dayton and VCU Health in Richmond leave Anthem’s Medicare Advantage networks after December 31, so members have until December 7 to switch
Kettering Health, the Dayton-area hospital system, will not renew its contract with Anthem’s Medicare Advantage plans, and VCU Health in Richmond, Virginia is leaving three...
Congress cleared a bill for Trump that would rename Social Security’s early, full and delayed claiming ages as the minimum, standard and maximum benefit ages
Congress has sent President Trump a bill that would retire three Social Security terms. “Early eligibility age” becomes “minimum monthly benefit age,” “full retirement age”...
Social Security’s single point of contact for identity-theft victims takes effect 180 days after Trump signed the law on October 7
A new federal law gives Social Security 180 days to get ready to assign one point of contact to anyone whose Social Security number has...
A Social Security child-benefit class action faces an October 14 briefing deadline in its appeal
A federal appeals court has set October 14 as the date for the next brief in a nationwide class action over how Social Security figures...
Medicaid expansion adults with incomes above the poverty line will owe cost sharing starting October 1, 2028, South Dakota’s Medicaid agency says
South Dakota’s Department of Social Services says Medicaid expansion enrollees with income above 100% of the federal poverty level will have cost shares starting October...
Veterans with a VA-determined total disability are exempt from Medicaid’s 80-hour monthly work requirement, Pennsylvania’s Medicaid agency says, ahead of the January 1, 2027 start
Pennsylvania’s Medicaid agency lists veterans with a VA-determined total disability among the groups exempt from the state’s new Medicaid work requirement, which starts January 1,...
Social Security recipients paid on the 3rd, including people who claimed before May 1997, get November money on Tuesday, November 3 and December money on Thursday, December 3
Social Security recipients who are paid on the 3rd get their November payment on Tuesday, November 3 and their December payment on Thursday, December 3....
Trump signed a law on October 7 requiring Social Security to give identity-theft victims a single point of contact who follows their case to completion
President Trump signed H.R. 5345, the Improving Social Security’s Service to Victims of Identity Theft Act, into law on October 7. The law tells the...
Social Security pays a Wednesday benefit due on a federal holiday the day before, and SSA’s 2026 holiday list puts Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11
Social Security pays a Wednesday benefit on the day before when the scheduled Wednesday is a federal holiday, and the agency’s 2026 holiday list puts...
NKC Health in North Kansas City left the networks of UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage, AARP/Optum and Dual Complete plans October 1, ahead of the October 15 enrollment period
NKC Health, the North Kansas City system that was formerly North Kansas City Hospital and Meritas Health, stopped taking UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans as an...
Social Security’s inspector general questioned $281.2 million in child benefit overpayments on September 30 and estimated $242.6 million was unresolved for 76,904 people selected for tax refund offsets
Social Security’s inspector general questioned $281.2 million in overpayments tied to child benefits in an audit released September 30. Auditors also estimated that about $242.6...
St. Vincent Health in Leadville, Colorado, will be out of network for Humana Medicare Advantage plans on Jan. 1, 2027, citing coverage denials, delays and reimbursement practices
St. Vincent Health, the hospital district in Leadville, Colorado, says it will be out of network for Humana Medicare Advantage plans starting Jan. 1, 2027....
Social Security improperly paid an estimated 89,000 student beneficiaries about $211 million from 2022 through 2024 and could not support $342 million more, its inspector general says
Social Security improperly paid an estimated 89,000 student beneficiaries about $211 million between January 2022 and December 2024, according to an audit the agency’s Office...
KFF counts 35 Medicare Advantage plans per beneficiary for 2027, down from 39, and CMS says 88 percent of non-low-income enrollees can get basic Part D for $10.30 or less
The average person on Medicare will be able to choose from 35 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, down from 39 for 2026, according to a...
Renown Health in Nevada says patients on out-of-network Medicare Advantage plans can schedule appointments there only until December 31
Renown Health in Nevada has told patients on certain Medicare Advantage plans that they can keep seeing its doctors and book new visits only through...
Mass Advantage will close its Worcester Medicare Advantage plan to new and existing members on January 1, 2027, after it did not submit a 2027 bid
Mass Advantage, the Medicare Advantage plan run out of Worcester, Massachusetts, will stop covering anyone on January 1, 2027. The plan says it did not...
Sharp Health Plan ends its individual Medicare Advantage plans in San Diego on December 31, while its employer group retiree plans continue
Sharp Health Plan, the San Diego insurer, is ending its individual Medicare Advantage plans, and coverage under them runs out on Dec. 31, 2026. Members...
Memorial Hermann is closing its Medicare Advantage plan on December 31, and members have a special enrollment period through February 28, 2027 to pick new coverage
Memorial Hermann Health Plan will stop covering its Medicare Advantage members after December 31, 2026, and the plan will not be offered at all in...