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 renamed two fee-schedule services on October 1 without flagging it
Social Security’s fee schedule for non-program information changed on October 1, and two of its line items changed names along the way. What the Social...
Beneficiaries whose Part B premium is already paid by Medicaid, and those paying the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, do not qualify for the Part B rebate
A one-time $90 Medicare rebate scheduled for direct deposit on or around October 8 skips two groups of Original Medicare beneficiaries, and the Centers for...
Social Security counts a digital wallet balance as a resource for SSI
A balance held in a digital wallet is a countable resource for Supplemental Security Income, according to the Social Security Administration’s 2026 edition of its...
Social Security pays on October 14, 21 and 28 this month, but people who began receiving benefits before May 1997 are paid on the third
Social Security retirement and survivor payments reach most beneficiaries on one of three Wednesdays in October 2026, the 14th, the 21st or the 28th, and...
Only one of Medicare’s four savings programs pays deductibles, coinsurance and copayments, and it is the one with the lowest income limit
Medicare runs four separate programs that pay a beneficiary’s Medicare costs on the basis of income, and only one of them reaches past premiums into...
An SSI recipient deemed eligible between July 1 and December 31 carries the Medicare drug subsidy through all of the next calendar year, with no application required
The length of automatic Medicare Part D Extra Help for a Supplemental Security Income recipient depends on which half of the calendar year the deeming...
A Medicare Advantage member only has to be told the plan is ending, not wait for it to end, to open the enrollment window that runs to February 28
A Medicare Advantage member whose insurer has announced that the plan is ending does not have to sit through the final weeks of coverage before...
UnitedHealthcare dated its Medicare Advantage non-renewal notices October 2, and affected members must pick a 2027 plan by December 31 to avoid a coverage gap
UnitedHealthcare has told its network providers that the Medicare Advantage non-renewal notices going to affected members carry an October 2, 2026 date, and the clock...
The White House is tapping the $2 billion Medicare Improvement Fund Congress created for the Part B rebate Social Security begins depositing on or around October 8, and Medicare Advantage enrollees get none of it
The Medicare Improvement Fund, created by Congress in 2008 and described by the White House as holding $2 billion, had never been used by any...
Social Security’s 2027 calendar pays retirement benefits by birth date across three Wednesdays
The Social Security Administration’s schedule of benefit payments for 2027 assigns each retirement beneficiary to a Wednesday by the day of the month on which...
A Medicare enrollment choice must reach the plan by December 7, not be postmarked
Medicare’s annual enrollment window closes on December 7, and the wording on Medicare.gov puts the weight on arrival rather than on mailing: the plan must...
Social Security’s eleven charges in its new fee schedule cover records requests, not benefit claims
The Social Security Administration’s updated schedule of standard administrative fees contains eleven separate charges, from $22 for a copy of a Numident record to $151...
Georgia’s Medicaid work-requirement waiver expires December 31 and Iowa starts its own December 1
Georgia’s Medicaid work-requirement waiver expires December 31, 2026, and Iowa begins its own community-engagement requirement on December 1, according to KFF’s tracker of section 1115...
CMS is ending the premium reductions that held Medicare drug-plan premiums down after 2026
CMS has decided to end the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration at the end of calendar 2026, removing the federal premium reductions that have applied...
Wellmark is dropping Medicare Advantage across 98 Iowa and 43 South Dakota counties for 2027
Wellmark’s own Medicare page says that Medicare Advantage coverage through Wellmark Advantage Health Plan “will no longer be available after Dec. 31, 2026,” and Becker’s...
About 5.3 million of the 53 million people in Medicare Part D used the drugs repriced on January 1, and paid $1.7 billion out of pocket in 2024
About 5.3 million of the roughly 53 million people with Medicare Part D coverage were dispensed the 15 drugs whose negotiated prices take effect on...
The day Social Security receives a records request now sets its price, so one mailed in September but received on October 1 or later is billed at the new rate
The Social Security Administration will charge its updated standard fees for records requests on one test: the date the agency receives the request. A notice...
Vanderbilt Health goes out of network for Aetna Medicare Advantage on January 1, everywhere but its Clarksville hospital and physician group
Vanderbilt Health will be out of network for Aetna Medicare Advantage plans on January 1, 2027, and the exit reaches every Vanderbilt location except the...
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota is dropping Medicare Advantage in all 53 counties of the state for 2027
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota is leaving the Medicare Advantage market for 2027, and its plans were offered in every one of the...
SSI recipients get their November money on October 30 this year, and no payment arrives at all during November
Supplemental Security Income recipients will see their November payment arrive on Friday, October 30, 2026, because November 1 falls on a Sunday and the payment...