Category: Benefits & Retirement
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Medicare must announce negotiated prices for 15 more drugs by November 30
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirmed on March 13, 2026, that the manufacturers of all 15 drugs picked for the next round of Medicare price negotiations had agreed to take part, locking in a process that now has a hard federal deadline. By law, CMS has to publish the negotiated price for each…
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Medicare’s 2027 plan lineup arrives in September, before enrollment opens October 15
Medicare runs on a fixed fall calendar, and the next few months follow it closely. Sometime in September, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will publish the finalized 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D plan lineup, along with the final average premiums that replace the preliminary figures insurers have been working from all summer.…
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A cancelled Medicare Advantage plan opens a guaranteed right to buy Medigap
A letter arrives from a Medicare Advantage insurer notifying a household that their plan is leaving Medicare, pulling out of their county, or no longer covering their address. For a retired couple used to a low premium and routine dental coverage, the news reads like a threat: shop for new coverage with a lung condition,…
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Medicare Advantage debit cards must be locked to approved items starting in 2027
Beginning with the 2027 Medicare Advantage plan year, the prepaid debit cards insurers hand out for groceries, over-the-counter items and other supplemental extras will have to check every purchase against an approved list the instant the card is swiped. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized that requirement on April 2, 2026, writing it…
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Social Security announces its 2027 raise October 14, with outside estimates near 3.6 percent
About 75 million Americans currently collect a Social Security or Supplemental Security Income payment, and every one of them is waiting on a single number the government has not yet confirmed. The Social Security Administration will announce the official 2027 cost-of-living adjustment on October 14, and until then, any percentage in circulation — including the…
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Stolen SNAP benefits have not been federally replaced since December 2024, and only two states cover the loss
Congress let the program that replaced stolen SNAP benefits expire on December 20, 2024, and it has not come back since. For a household whose EBT card gets skimmed or cloned today, that means there is no federal check waiting at the end of a claim form in nearly every state in the country. Only…
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Refugees and asylees lose non-emergency Medicaid coverage on October 1
Thirty-three days from now, on October 1, 2026, the federal government will stop matching state Medicaid dollars spent on non-emergency care for refugees, asylees, parolees and trafficking survivors nationwide. The cutoff comes from a single provision in this year’s federal budget law, and it does not change anyone’s legal immigration status. It removes the federal…
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Medicare set the 2027 base drug premium at $41.33 and dropped the subsidy that softened it
On July 28, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services set the government’s benchmark for what Part D prescription drug coverage will cost to obtain in 2027, and confirmed that a program which had been softening premium increases since 2025 is going away. The base beneficiary premium for next year will be $41.33, and…
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Providence Health Plan is closing, cutting Medicare Advantage coverage for more than 64,000 members
More than 64,000 Medicare Advantage members across Oregon, Washington and California are about to lose their insurer entirely. Providence Health Plan confirmed in mid-August that a proposed sale of its Medicare Advantage business to another national insurer has fallen apart, meaning the nonprofit is now closing every line of coverage it sells rather than the…
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Aetna will pay brokers nothing on 123 Medicare Advantage plans in 2027 as insurers pull back
A quiet move by one of the biggest Medicare insurers is worth a retiree’s attention. Aetna will pay brokers no commission for signing up new members in 123 of its Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. It sounds like an industry detail, but it is often a signal that a plan is being wound down, and…
