Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
Original Medicare covers no routine dental, vision or hearing, a gap that surprises many the year they retire
Many people spend their working years assuming that once Medicare begins, their major health needs are handled. Then the first dental bill arrives, or a...
A widow can start a smaller survivor benefit now and switch to her own Social Security later if it grows larger
Losing a spouse forces a series of financial decisions at the worst possible time, and Social Security is one of the more confusing pieces to...
Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to pay just 78% of benefits after 2032 unless Congress acts
Few facts about Social Security worry retirees more than the projected exhaustion of its trust funds. Each year, the program’s trustees release a report estimating...
Public workers hit by the old Social Security offset are also owed back pay, often thousands of dollars
When Congress eliminated two rules that had long reduced Social Security benefits for public workers, most of the attention landed on the higher monthly checks...
Medicare’s Part B premium is projected to climb to about $209.50 a month in 2027
Older Americans watching their fixed budgets have another number to keep an eye on. The standard Medicare Part B premium, the monthly amount most beneficiaries...
Limited-income seniors can get their $209.50 Medicare Part B premium paid through a Medicare Savings Program
The steady rise in Medicare’s Part B premium is a genuine strain for retirees living on modest fixed incomes. With the standard premium projected to...
A spouse who never worked can still collect up to half of the other spouse’s Social Security benefit
Not everyone spends decades in the paid workforce. In many households, one spouse focused on raising children or managing the home while the other earned...
Social Security is ending paper checks by the close of 2026, pushing recipients to direct deposit or a Direct Express card
For generations, a Social Security payment meant an envelope in the mailbox on a predictable day each month. That era is drawing to a close....
About 2.6 million people lost their Medicare Advantage plan for 2026, and more cuts are expected for 2027
The start of 2026 brought an unwelcome surprise to millions of older Americans who rely on private Medicare Advantage plans for their health coverage. As...
Medicare’s fall open enrollment runs October 15 to December 7, the only window to change most plans
For most Medicare beneficiaries, the majority of the calendar offers no easy way to switch plans. Coverage rolls forward month after month, and the choices...
Retired teachers, police and firefighters are now getting up to $587 more a month after Congress repealed two Social Security penalties
For decades, millions of Americans who spent their careers teaching in classrooms, patrolling neighborhoods and answering fire calls found that their Social Security benefits were...
A new House bill would tie Social Security’s yearly raise to seniors’ own costs, pushing checks above the standard COLA, but it still must pass Congress
Each year, tens of millions of retirees watch for one number: the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, that determines how much their Social Security checks will...
Delaying Social Security past full retirement age adds about 8% a year until 70
Workers who have reached full retirement age and can afford to wait stand to collect roughly 8 percent more in Social Security benefits for each...
Medicare’s Extra Help can wipe out drug-plan premiums and deductibles for limited-income seniors
Millions of seniors on Medicare Part D spend hundreds of dollars each year on prescription drug premiums, deductibles, and copayments they may not actually owe....
Medicare’s negotiated 2027 prices cut 15 drugs, including Ozempic, by about 44%
Millions of Medicare Part D enrollees who depend on drugs like Ozempic, cancer treatments, and medications for chronic conditions will pay sharply less starting January...
UnitedHealth dropped Medicare Advantage in 109 counties, cutting about 180,000 members
Roughly 180,000 seniors and people with disabilities enrolled in UnitedHealth Medicare Advantage plans will need to find new coverage for 2026 after the insurer pulled...
The 2027 Social Security raise is now pegged near 3.8%, about $79 more a month
Roughly 68 million Social Security recipients could see their monthly checks rise by about $79 starting in January 2027, based on early projections that peg...
Medicare’s Part B deductible is projected to rise about $27 to $310 in 2027
Tens of millions of Medicare beneficiaries face a projected $27 jump in their annual Part B deductible for 2027, bringing the amount to $310 before...
Social Security scrapped a plan that would have made disability harder for older workers
Older Americans who depend on Social Security disability benefits narrowly avoided a rule change that could have cut off tens of thousands of claims each...
Social Security now lets you repay an overpayment over 60 months without proving your finances
Social Security beneficiaries who owe money back to the government gained a significantly longer runway to repay overpayments without having to open their books to...