Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
Checking your Social Security earnings record online can catch an employer’s mistake that would shrink the check for life
A single year of underreported wages sitting on a worker’s Social Security earnings record can shrink a retirement check for life, because the benefit formula...
A short list of countries blocks Social Security payments to Americans living there
Two countries on earth carry an absolute legal bar on a Social Security deposit: Cuba and North Korea, blocked under a Treasury Department sanctions program...
Money withheld by Social Security’s earnings test comes back later as a higher monthly check at full retirement age
A worker who claims Social Security at 62 in 2026 and keeps earning past $24,480 a year will have the agency withhold $1 of every...
A retiree working past 70 earns no more delayed Social Security credits
Age 70 marks a hard stop that catches many working retirees off guard: the delayed retirement credit, the 8 percent-a-year increase Social Security pays anyone...
Social Security benefits become taxable above $25,000 of combined income for a single filer, a line never adjusted for inflation
A single retiree owes federal tax on part of a Social Security check the moment combined income passes $25,000 a year, a threshold Congress fixed...
The Social Security Administration has paid out $17 billion in Fairness Act back pay, and a fight remains over 6 versus 12 months
The Social Security Administration finished sending more than 3.1 million retroactive payments worth $17 billion to people affected by the repeal of the Windfall Elimination...
Social Security is widening a bank-account screening tool that flags an overpayment before it grows into a debt
As of April 2026, the Social Security Administration checks bank accounts down to a zero-dollar tolerance before approving Supplemental Security Income payments to blind and...
Social Security’s new appointment-first system cuts the average booked wait to about six minutes
Six minutes: that is the average wait the Social Security Administration now reports for beneficiaries who book an appointment before visiting a field office, according...
A couple on Supplemental Security Income gets $1,491 a month in 2026
Two individual Supplemental Security Income checks of $994 apiece add up to $1,988 a month. A married couple drawing the same benefit together receives $1,491,...
Social Security’s payroll tax stops at $184,500 of wages in 2026
Social Security’s payroll tax will apply to $8,400 more in wages for 2026, after the Social Security Administration raised the taxable maximum from $176,100 to...
Social Security’s biggest check at full retirement age is $4,152 a month
A worker’s Social Security check for the exact same earnings history can land at $2,969, $4,152, or $5,181 a month, depending only on the age...
Blind Social Security recipients can earn $2,830 a month in 2026
A Social Security disability beneficiary who is blind can earn up to $2,830 in a single month during 2026 without the agency treating that income...
Social Security stops disability checks once a worker earns $1,690 a month in 2026
A disabled worker earning $1,690 or more in a single month during 2026 crosses the exact line Social Security uses to decide whether Social Security...
An aged widow living alone now averages $1,919 a month from Social Security
The Social Security Administration’s own 2026 fact sheet puts the average benefit for an aged widow or widower living alone at $1,919 a month, a...
Social Security’s average retirement check rose $56 a month this year to $2,071
The average Social Security retirement check rose to $2,071 a month in January 2026, a $56 increase produced by the Social Security Administration’s 2.8 percent...
Social Security’s field offices are running on the thinnest staffing since 1967, and some can only answer the phone through September 8
Federal payroll records cited by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities show the Social Security Administration employed just 49,880 workers in January 2026, the...
Medicare’s standard Part B premium climbed $17.90 to $202.90 this year, swallowing nearly a third of the average retiree’s raise
The standard Medicare Part B premium rose $17.90 to $202.90 a month for 2026, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, arriving the...
Supplemental Security Income pays an individual $994 a month in 2026, and $2,000 in the bank can end the check entirely
Supplemental Security Income’s federal payment standard climbed to $994 a month for an individual and $1,491 for a couple on January 1, 2026, after the...
A bipartisan bill from Tom Kean and Young Kim would erase a Medicare surcharge that costs some seniors $241 a month
A bill introduced in the House on July 15 would rewrite the Social Security Act formula that decides which Medicare enrollees pay an income-based surcharge,...
Bernie Sanders’ Social Security Expansion Act would lift benefits about $2,400 a year by taxing wages above $250,000
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ Social Security Expansion Act, reintroduced in February 2025 as S. 770 with ten Senate Democratic co-sponsors, would raise the average beneficiary’s...