Social Security & Medicare
Benefit changes, claiming strategies, eligibility rules, Medicare enrollment, Part D updates, and policy changes affecting retirees.
Latest in Social Security & Medicare
CHRISTUS Health Plan ends its Medicare Advantage coverage on December 31, and Texas and New Mexico members have until December 7 to choose a new plan that starts January 1
CHRISTUS Health Plan will stop offering Medicare Advantage coverage on December 31, 2026, according to the plan’s own Medicare page, which leaves every enrolled member...
Medicare’s GLOBE model rule takes effect November 30 and pulls in about a quarter of Original Medicare Part B patients by where they live
CMS’s final rule creating the Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing, known as the GLOBE Model, takes effect November 30, 2026, and the agency says...
Supplemental Security Income pays twice in December because January’s payment lands December 31
A person who receives Supplemental Security Income will see two deposits in December 2026 and none in January 2027, and the explanation is a holiday...
Social Security set a November 23 deadline for comment on eleven information collections it is revising or renewing
Members of the public have until November 23, 2026 to tell Social Security what is wrong with eleven pieces of its paperwork, a batch that...
Social Security’s new heart rules set different heart-size thresholds for men and women from October 30
Starting October 30, Social Security will judge an enlarged heart against two numbers instead of one: under revised listing 4.02A1, a left ventricular end-diastolic diameter...
Social Security’s young-adult disability rule, in force since October 1, generally calls for at least 12 months of medical records plus school and work-placement evidence
Social Security’s rule for judging disability in adults between 18 and about 25 changed on October 1, and the change concerns who gathers the paper...
The 2027 deductible on a high-deductible Medigap Plan F or G is set at $3,050
A $3,050 deductible, effective January 1, 2027, will apply to high-deductible Medigap Plans F, G and J, according to an October 2026 announcement from the...
A significant change to a Medicare Advantage network opens its own Medigap guarantee, and the CMS guide lists four such triggers
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lists four situations in its Choosing a Medigap Policy guide that give a person with a Medicare Advantage...
NewYork-Presbyterian says UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage patients fall out of network on November 1, with continuity of care only to January 29
NewYork-Presbyterian says that starting November 1, 2026, all of its hospitals and the practices in its NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Groups will be considered out-of-network for UnitedHealthcare...
October 14 sets the 2027 Social Security raise through the September CPI, but the earnings test and taxable wage base follow the wage index instead
Two numbers decide the size of the 2027 Social Security raise, and one of them is still missing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics schedules the...
The $90 Medicare payment skips Medicare Advantage enrollees, anyone on Medicaid premium help and anyone paying the income surcharge
Enrollment in Medicare Advantage, premium help from Medicaid and payment of the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount each remove a Medicare beneficiary from the $90 rebate...
Medicare is depositing $90 on or around October 8 for the 20.8 million people CMS counts in Original Medicare Part B
A single $90 deposit, scheduled for on or around October 8, is the entire payment that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services describes in...
Two weeks before open enrollment, Medicare’s savings programs still publish only 2026 limits, and the QDWI tier caps resources at $4,000
Medicare open enrollment begins on October 15, about two weeks away, yet the federal page that lists income and resource limits for the Medicare Savings...
Social Security withholds half a monthly retirement check to recover an overpayment
Social Security will automatically withhold half of a monthly retirement check once the agency decides a beneficiary was paid too much, and the cut repeats...
Medicare’s Extra Help copays for 2027 are set at up to $5.80 for a generic and up to $14.40 for a brand-name drug, with no premium and no deductible
Medicare.gov now lists what Extra Help enrollees will pay at the pharmacy in 2027: up to $5.80 for each generic drug and up to $14.40...
States must run Medicaid’s 80-hour work requirement by January 1, and a notice of noncompliance gives 30 calendar days to make a satisfactory showing
Medicaid’s 80-hour work requirement now has a firm federal date attached. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wrote in its June 2026 rule...
Social Security’s new phone system is set to cost almost $471 million before discounts
Social Security’s new phone system is expected to consume almost $471 million over five fiscal years, according to an audit posted September 30, 2026 by...
Social Security and the federal retirement agency began matching annuity records in September to check who self-certified for Medicare’s Extra Help
A federal data-matching arrangement that took effect in mid-September lets the Social Security Administration (SSA) test self-certified applications for Medicare’s Extra Help against civil service...
Social Security’s longest disability hearing wait hit 24.5 months in August
The Social Security Administration’s hearing-wait data for August 2026 contains one number far above all the rest: 24.5 months, the average time the Special Review...
Social Security’s revised heart rules will list aortic valve disease and cardiomyopathy starting October 30
The Social Security Administration has finalized its first comprehensive rewrite of the heart-disease criteria used in disability claims since 2006, adding listings for aortic valve...