Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
Medicare’s Part D drug deductible rises to $700 in 2027, up from $615
Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in standard Part D drug plans will pay up to $700 out of pocket before coverage kicks in starting in 2027, an...
Disabled workers can earn up to $1,690 a month in 2026 and still keep their SSDI
Starting in 2026, Social Security Disability Insurance recipients who are not statutorily blind can earn up to $1,690 per month and still keep their benefits,...
Medicare’s new $50 weight-loss drug copay won’t count toward your $2,100 out-of-pocket cap
Medicare beneficiaries who fill a GLP-1 weight-loss prescription through the new Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program will pay a flat $50 copay per month, but none...
Several divorced ex-spouses can each collect survivor benefits on the same worker, and none reduces another
A worker who was married and divorced more than once can leave behind multiple ex-spouses, each entitled to survivor benefits on that single earnings record....
Social Security cut its disability backlog by a third, but the share of claims it approves fell to 36%
Americans waiting for a disability decision from the Social Security Administration got mixed news this summer. The agency announced it had slashed the number of...
Medicare’s new $50 weight-loss drug deal is set to expire at the end of 2027
Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for discounted GLP-1 weight-loss medications now face a hard deadline. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched the Medicare GLP-1...
Adults just under 65 earning over the ACA limit now get no subsidy, and premiums jumped 58%
Starting in January 2026, Americans aged 60 to 64 who earn above 400% of the federal poverty line will lose all premium tax credit assistance...
A pension lump sum can quietly push your income over a line and raise your Medicare premiums
Retirees who accept a one-time pension buyout can find themselves paying hundreds of dollars more each month for Medicare, even if their regular income never...
A widow can take a reduced survivor benefit at 60 and let her own Social Security grow until 70
Widows who lose a spouse face an immediate financial shock, but Social Security offers a little-known sequencing option that can soften the blow over decades....
Twenty-three hospital systems are now dropping Medicare Advantage plans for 2026
Twenty-three hospital systems across the United States have announced they will stop accepting certain Medicare Advantage plans in 2026, a wave of provider exits that...
Teachers, firefighters and police are getting bigger Social Security checks after Congress repealed a decades-old penalty
More than 3.2 million retired public servants across the United States are seeing their Social Security benefits restored after Congress eliminated two provisions that had...
California is bringing back Medicaid asset limits and a 30-month look-back for nursing-home care in 2026
Hundreds of thousands of older Californians and people with disabilities who rely on Medi-Cal for nursing-home or long-term care face a new financial test starting...
Private forecasters put the 2027 Medicare Part B premium near $219, above the official $209.50
Millions of Medicare beneficiaries budgeting for 2027 health costs face a potential gap between what the government projects they will pay and what independent analysts...
Bernie Sanders’ bill would permanently add $200 a month to Social Security checks, but Congress still must act
Roughly 70 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits would see their monthly checks rise by $200 under legislation filed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, an...
Injectable Wegovy and Ozempic are set at $245 a month for people on Medicare under a new deal
Millions of Medicare Part D beneficiaries now have a path to injectable GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic at a fixed $50 monthly copay, after...
New Medicare cards are arriving this year, and Medicare will never call to sell you one
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began mailing new Medicare cards to tens of millions of beneficiaries starting in April 2018, replacing Social Security...
The PACT Act opens VA health care to a new group of toxic-exposed veterans on October 1
Veterans who served during the Gulf War era and its aftermath, discharged between August 2, 1990, and September 11, 2001, hit a statutory milestone on...
Medicare’s 2027 Part B premium could climb past $215 a month, forecasters warn
Millions of Medicare beneficiaries face a potential jump in their monthly Part B premium for 2027, with one official projection placing the standard rate at...
High earners pay up to $487 more a month for Medicare, and one dollar over the line can trigger it
Medicare beneficiaries with higher incomes will pay as much as $487 extra per month for Part B coverage in 2026, on top of the standard...
Social Security now checks every SSI applicant’s bank accounts automatically
Every person who applies for Supplemental Security Income now has their bank account data pulled and cross-checked electronically before a single dollar is approved. The...