Medicare News & Updates

The average person on Medicare has 28 Medicare Advantage drug plans for 2027, down from 32. See which states lost the most and what to do now.

Social Security announced a 3.6% COLA for 2027 on October 14. Here's when it starts, what it means for your check, and how Medicare Part B fits in.

2027 Medicare plan details are posted in October, Open Enrollment runs October 15 to December 7, and changes start January 1. Key dates and what to do.

Part D's out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 and the maximum deductible to $700. What changes, what doesn't, and what to check by December 7.

Texts offering a Medicare benefit card, plastic chip card or $2,600 senior card are not from Medicare. Four checks, plus what to do if you replied.

20.8 million people on Original Medicare get a one-time $90 payment around October 8. Medicare Advantage members don't. Here's who qualifies.

CMS finalized a new Part B drug pricing model on September 30, but final savings are far smaller than first proposed — $440 million versus $8.4 billion. Here's what actually changed.

CMS's new 2027 landscape data shows 181 counties will have zero Medicare Advantage plans, up from 67. Here's what that means for you.

CMS says 2027 Medicare Advantage premiums will fall 16% on average. Brokers said benefits were shrinking. Here's how both reports can be true.

Social Security announced a 3.6% COLA on October 14 and the Part B premium follows in mid-November. Last year the premium took about a third of the raise; on the projected premium 2027 would take under a tenth — but the Part B figure is still a projection.

CMS finalized a 2.48% Medicare Advantage payment increase for 2027, worth about $13 billion industry-wide. But brokers reviewing preliminary filings say benefits are still shrinking — especially at Humana and UnitedHealthcare.

If your Medicare Advantage or Part D plan is being discontinued for 2027, a Notice of Termination must reach you by October 2 — and it starts two clocks that don't end on the same day. December 31 is the date that protects you, not February 28.

CMS says it has blocked or recovered more than $1.6 billion in fraudulent Medicare laboratory payments, including billing from labs investigators found were never operational. This kind of fraud reaches your record without any call, text, or package — your Medicare Summary Notice is the one place it shows up.

Humana confirmed on its July 29, 2026 earnings call that it will exit Medicare Advantage plans covering roughly 600,000 members for 2027 — its second straight year of exits. Non-renewal letters are required by October 2, and they trigger both a Special Enrollment Period and a guaranteed-issue right to buy Medigap without underwriting.

Monogram Health agreed to pay $2.4 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that it added unsupported diagnosis codes to Medicare Advantage patients' charts between 2021 and 2023. A civil settlement with no admission of wrongdoing — and a concrete example of what CMS's expanding RADV audits target.

CMS finalized the CY2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D rule on April 2, 2026, removing the 48-hour wait between a Scope of Appointment and a plan-specific sales call. Separately, the agency finalized a 2.48% MA payment increase worth about $13 billion after initially proposing 0.9%.

Costco and SCAN Health Plan announced co-branded Medicare Advantage plans in two states and a Medigap plan in a third. The states aren't named, there's no launch date, and everything is pending CMS approval — so nothing is available to enroll in today.

The 2027 Part D deductible rises to $700 and the out-of-pocket cap to $2,400, but the bigger change is the federal premium subsidy ending December 31.

Plan G is the default Medigap choice in America. It closes nearly every gap Original Medicare leaves — except the $283 Part B deductible. Here's what it pays, what it costs in 2026, and the enrollment window that matters more than the price.

42474 is an SMS short code sending texts branded "CenturyMed" that offer a senior benefits card worth $2,600 — or $4,200, or $2,750. Here's what the campaign actually is and what to do if you replied.