Cents & Sense

Cents & Sense Personal Finance | Social Security | Economic Commentary. Talk on money, housing & the economy — the stuff school never taught. Follow daily.

Facts, not advice, sourced from public data & news. Education, not advice.

08/29/2026

A letter arrives saying Social Security paid you too much — sometimes years ago, usually through no fault of yours. Left alone, it can now quietly take half of every check.

WHAT CHANGED
For retirement, survivors, and disability benefits, Social Security's default clawback rate for new overpayment notices (dated April 25, 2025 or later) is 50% of your monthly benefit. In just over a year the rate went from 10%, to 100%, and back down to 50%.

WHY THIS IS SO UNFAIR
Overpayments are frequently the agency's own error — a delayed update, a miscalculated benefit. But the law still requires SSA to try to recover the money, and the burden lands on the person who did nothing wrong.

THE PART THAT CATCHES PEOPLE
There's a clock. Do nothing and withholding starts after 90 days. But you can ask for reconsideration (SSA-561), a waiver if it wasn't your fault or you can't afford repayment (SSA-632), or a lower monthly rate (SSA-634). Filing quickly — within 30 days — generally pauses collection while they review.

WHAT TO DO
Don't ignore the letter. Call 1-800-772-1213 or visit ssa.gov and ask about a waiver or lower rate. If the overpayment is $2,000 or less and wasn't your fault, there's a simpler waiver process.

Educational information. Sources: SSA Emergency Message EM-25029; AARP; 2026. Not legal advice.

Have you or someone you know ever gotten one of these overpayment letters — and how did it turn out?

You think you own your home.Until you realize there’s one bill you can’t ignore.You paid the mortgage.You paid the inter...
08/29/2026

You think you own your home.
Until you realize there’s one bill you can’t ignore.

You paid the mortgage.
You paid the interest.
You paid for repairs.
You paid for insurance.

And every year… the county still sends a bill.

Stop paying it?
Your “paid-off” home can still be at risk.

You don’t just own the house. You have to keep paying to keep it.

08/29/2026

For the first time in Medicare's history, there is now a hard limit on what you can be charged out of pocket for covered prescriptions in a single year.

WHAT CHANGED
The Inflation Reduction Act put an annual cap on Medicare Part D drug spending. It started at $2,000 in 2025 and is $2,100 in 2026. Once your out-of-pocket covered-drug costs reach that number, your plan pays 100% for the rest of the year.

WHY IT MATTERS SO MUCH
Before 2025 there was no ceiling at all. In the old catastrophic phase you still paid 5% of the cost of every prescription — forever. For someone on a specialty drug, that could mean hundreds of dollars a month with no end.

THE PART THAT CATCHES PEOPLE
If big costs hit early in the year, the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your share into level monthly payments instead of one painful hit at the counter. The cap applies to stand-alone Part D and to drug coverage bundled into Medicare Advantage.

WHAT TO DO
Check your plan at Medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE. During Open Enrollment (Oct 15–Dec 7), compare plans — the cap is the same, but premiums and covered drugs are not.

Educational information. Sources: CMS / Medicare.gov; KFF; 2026. Not medical or financial advice.

Has anyone in your family ever skipped or split pills to make a prescription last longer?

Imagine thinking $5 coffee is why someone can’t afford a $500K house.
08/29/2026

Imagine thinking $5 coffee is why someone can’t afford a $500K house.

08/29/2026

Somewhere, a life insurance company may be holding money with your family's name on it — and waiting for someone who never knew to ask.

THE TOOL ALMOST NOBODY KNOWS EXISTS
The NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator is a free, government-backed search. You enter a deceased loved one's details from the death certificate, and every participating insurer checks its records at once.

WHAT IT'S WORTH
Since 2016 it has connected families with more than $10 billion in unclaimed life insurance and annuities. A state insurance department reported the running total had passed $13 billion by late 2025.

THE PART THAT CATCHES PEOPLE
Policies go unclaimed because the person who bought one often never told the beneficiary — or told them decades ago and the paperwork is long gone. If money was already turned over to the state, it shows up separately in your state's unclaimed property office.

WHAT TO DO
Search free at the NAIC site (content.naic.org — Consumer, then Life Insurance Policy Locator) and at your state treasurer's unclaimed property site. Never pay a "finder" — the real searches cost nothing.

Educational information. Sources: NAIC; NAUPA state unclaimed property; 2026. Not financial advice.

Did your parents ever tell you whether they had life insurance — or would you have no idea where to look?

08/29/2026

Most families believe Medicare covers a nursing home. It does not. They usually find out around day ninety, when someone from billing asks what the plan is after day one hundred.

THE TWO NUMBERS
A shared room in a nursing home has a national median cost of $315 a day — $114,975 a year. A private room is $129,575. Assisted living is $74,400.

The average Social Security retirement check in 2026 is $2,071 a month. About $25,000 a year.

WHAT MEDICARE ACTUALLY COVERS
Skilled nursing care, and only after a qualifying three-day inpatient hospital stay. Days 1 through 20 are covered in full. Days 21 through 100 cost $217 a day out of pocket in 2026. After day 100, Medicare pays nothing.

And "skilled" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. It means wound care, IV medication, physical therapy — medical treatment. The care most people need long term is custodial: help bathing, dressing, eating, getting to the bathroom. Medicare does not cover custodial care at all, in any setting, at any point.

WHERE THE MONEY ACTUALLY COMES FROM
Savings, until they run out. Then Medicaid, which pays only after assets are nearly exhausted and works differently in every state. Long-term care insurance if someone bought it years ago. Or family — time, money, or both.

THE PART THAT CATCHES PEOPLE
Costs swing two to three times depending on where you live. A number that sounds impossible in one state is the going rate in another, and families often don't discover the local figure until they're already touring facilities.

WHAT TO DO
Have the conversation while it's still hypothetical. Look up the real median for your parents' state at genworth.com's cost of care tool. Ask your local Area Agency on Aging what programs exist where they live — call 1-800-677-1116 for the Eldercare Locator. And if anyone in the family bought a long-term care policy decades ago, find out now whether it's still in force.

Educational information. Sources: CareScout/Genworth 2025 Cost of Care Survey; SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet; CMS 2026 Medicare cost figures; 2026.

Did you know Medicare stopped at day 100, or is that new information today?

08/28/2026

You did it properly. You saw the lawyer, you signed the durable power of attorney, your mother signed it, it was notarised and filed.

Then you called Social Security on her behalf and they told you the document means nothing to them.

THE RULE BEHIND IT
Treasury regulations don't recognise a general power of attorney for negotiating recurring federal payments. That includes Social Security and SSI. The rule is 31 CFR 240.17, and Social Security applies it without exception. Court-appointed guardianship doesn't automatically work either.

WHAT THEY USE INSTEAD
A representative payee — someone Social Security itself appoints to receive and manage the benefits. If you have power of attorney and expect to manage her checks, you still have to apply separately with form SSA-11, usually in person.

And there's a condition most families don't expect. Social Security starts from the assumption that every adult can manage her own money. They will not appoint anyone until they have determined she cannot. That determination takes evidence, and it takes time.

THE PART THAT CATCHES PEOPLE
Families find this out in the middle of a crisis — after a stroke, after a diagnosis — which is the hardest possible moment to be told to gather medical evidence and book an in-person appointment.

There is a way to skip most of that, and only she can do it.

WHAT TO DO
It's called Advance Designation. Any adult who is capable and receiving or applying for Social Security can name up to three people, in order of preference, to be considered as her future representative payee. It takes minutes in a my Social Security account at ssa.gov, or by phone at 1-800-772-1213.

It is not a power of attorney and it doesn't hand anyone control of anything today. It simply means that if the day ever comes, Social Security already has her answer instead of picking someone themselves.

One more thing worth knowing: being a representative payee covers Social Security benefits and nothing else. Her bank, her house, her medical decisions still need the power of attorney. You need both.

Educational information. Sources: SSA.gov Representative Payee program; Congressional Research Service In Focus IF12658 (June 2025); 31 CFR 240.17; 2026. Not legal advice.

Did you assume a power of attorney covered everything — most people do. Where did you find out otherwise?

Before you claim Social Security, check these 7 things. 👀Your claiming age can affect your monthly check, taxes, Medicar...
08/28/2026

Before you claim Social Security, check these 7 things. 👀

Your claiming age can affect your monthly check, taxes, Medicare timing, and even what your spouse may receive.

Don’t make a permanent decision based on one number.

Save this for your retirement planning. 💰

08/28/2026

He mentioned a policy once, years ago. You don't know the company. You don't have the paperwork. You assumed that was the end of it.

It isn't.

THE TOOL ALMOST NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners — the body made up of all fifty state insurance regulators — runs a free national search called the Life Insurance Policy Locator. You submit one request and every participating insurer in the country checks its records against it.

It costs nothing. There is no company to call, no paperwork to dig up first.

WHY THE MONEY IS SITTING THERE
An insurance company does not automatically find out when a policyholder dies. If nobody files a claim, the policy simply sits. Sometimes the company that issued it merged, changed names or sold the book of business years ago, so even a family that remembers the policy cannot find who holds it now.

WHAT IT'S FOUND
NAIC last published $10.1 billion matched to beneficiaries as of August 2024. More recent reporting puts the running total at over $13 billion since the tool launched in 2016.

THE PART THAT CATCHES PEOPLE
You will only get a response if there's a match and you are the beneficiary or have legal authority. If there's nothing, no letter comes. Silence is not an answer — it just means the search ended.

It can also take 90 business days or more. Start it and forget it.

WHAT TO DO
Search "NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator" or go to naic.org, hover over Consumer, and find it under Tools. Have ready: his Social Security number, legal first and last name, date of birth and date of death. Some states also want a copy of the death certificate.

Then do one more thing. Money that was never claimed eventually goes to the state. Check missingmoney.com and your own state treasurer's unclaimed property site under his name, your maiden name, and any address you've lived at.

Educational information. Sources: NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator and NAIC press materials; CNBC Select (April 2026); 2026.

If you've ever searched for a policy you weren't sure existed — did you find anything?

08/28/2026

The envelope says Social Security overpaid you and wants it back. It reads like a verdict. It isn't one.

WHAT CHANGED
Since April 2025, new overpayment notices for retirement, survivors and disability benefits default to withholding 50% of the monthly check — half. Not 10%, which was the rule the year before. Not 100%, which was briefly announced and then walked back. Half.

SSI is different and stayed at 10%. Older overpayments generally stayed at the older rate too.

THE THREE DOORS
Almost nobody knows there are three separate forms, and they do three different things.

SSA-632 is a waiver. It asks for the debt to be wiped out entirely. It works when the overpayment wasn't your fault and paying it back would mean not covering rent, food or medicine.

SSA-561 is reconsideration. Use it if you don't believe you were overpaid, or not by that much. Ask to see the actual calculation — you have the right to it.

SSA-634 asks for a lower monthly repayment. Use it when the debt is real but half your check is not survivable.

THE PART THAT CATCHES PEOPLE
Timing. If nothing is filed, automatic withholding starts after about 90 days. But filing within 30 days of the date on the notice is what stops money coming out while your case is being looked at. Wait past that and the review still happens — it just happens while your check is already cut in half.

WHAT TO DO
Look at the date on the letter, not the day it arrived. If the overpayment is $2,000 or less, call 1-800-772-1213 and ask for a waiver by phone. If it's more, file SSA-632-BK. Keep a copy of everything and write down who you spoke to.

Free help exists. Your local Area Agency on Aging and legal aid offices handle these routinely and do not charge.

Educational information. Sources: SSA Emergency Message EM-25029; SSA.gov forms SSA-632, SSA-561, SSA-634; 2026. Not legal advice.

Has one of these letters ever landed in your mailbox — and what happened next?

Address

New York, NY

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cents & Sense posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category