The financial news that actually matters
Covers retirement planning, Social Security benefits, pension systems, and long-term financial security. It helps readers understand how to prepare financially for retirement.
Retirees collecting Social Security face a tax hit that grows larger each year, not because Congress passed a new law, but because it never updated an old one. A single filer whose provisional income crosses $34,000 can have up to 85% of benefits included in gross income, a formula written into the tax code in…
Millions of Medicare Part D enrollees who rely on high-cost drugs for cancer and chronic conditions are set to pay less starting January 1, 2027, when negotiated prices for 15 widely used medications take effect. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that beneficiaries will save an estimated $685 million once the new Maximum…
Medicare beneficiaries who enroll in a $0-premium Medicare Advantage plan for 2026 could still face thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs if they are hospitalized or need specialist care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published its official CY 2026 maximum out-of-pocket and cost-sharing limit calculations, setting the ceiling that plans can…
Workers who spent decades earning a company pension can lose a share of that promised income when their employer’s plan fails. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the federal agency that steps in as insurer, pays benefits only up to caps set by federal law. Those caps shift each year and drop sharply for anyone who…
The Social Security Administration is pushing to cut in-person field office visits roughly in half during fiscal year 2026, redirecting retirees and beneficiaries toward phone lines and online portals. The agency reported a large increase in online transactions for fiscal year 2026 year-to-date, alongside reductions in both field office wait times and phone answer times….
Medicare beneficiaries who need more than one hospital stay in 2026 could owe $1,736 each time they are admitted, with no annual cap on how many times that charge applies. The per-benefit-period deductible, set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for the coming year, covers a patient’s share of the first 60 days…
Retirees set to receive a 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment in January 2026 could see a far larger boost to their monthly checks if a Senate bill gains traction. The Social Security Expansion Act, filed as S.770 in the 119th Congress, proposes an across-the-board benefit increase that would exceed the standard annual inflation adjustment. With the…
Retirees who owe money to the Social Security Administration could see their entire monthly benefit vanish in a single payment cycle. The SSA announced in March 2025 that it will raise the default overpayment withholding rate to 100% of a person’s monthly benefit for certain new overpayments, reversing a policy that had cut the default…
About 2.6 million Medicare Advantage enrollees were forced to find new coverage this year after insurers terminated or consolidated plans across the country. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimate that as many as 2.9 million beneficiaries face the same disruption heading into 2027, meaning roughly one in ten people enrolled in…
Medicare beneficiaries who let 63 or more days pass without prescription drug coverage after they first become eligible face a late enrollment penalty, or LEP, that gets added to their Part D premium for as long as they carry drug coverage. The penalty does not expire after a set number of years. It stays attached…