Transcription
Hello friends. If you are 60 or older and receiving Social Security or Medicare, there is money sitting in the system right now with your name on it. Not money you might qualify for someday. Money you have already earned, already paid into, already built up over decades of work, and that the government will quietly hold on to indefinitely unless you know to ask for it.
The Social Security Administration does not call you when something is waiting. It does not send a letter explaining your options. And some of what I'm going to cover today has windows that close quietly without warning after which that money is simply gone. Today, I'm going through five specific payouts that a significant number of seniors are entitled to right now and are not receiving. I'll tell you exactly who qualifies, what the money looks like, and the one step it takes to claim each one.
Before we get into it, subscribe to this channel right now and turn on the bell. The rules around Social Security and Medicare change every single year. And when they change, nobody explains your new options. The people subscribed here find out before the money slips away. The ones who aren't tend to find out after the deadline. Subscribe now and let's get into it.
Payout number one, the spousal benefit. And I want to start here because this is the one where the gap between what people are receiving and what they are entitled to is largest in dollar terms. If your spouse's claim social security and their monthly benefit is larger than yours, you may be entitled to receive up to 50% of their benefit instead of or in addition to your own smaller check. On a spouse receiving $2,400 per month, that's a potential spousal benefit of $1,200 every month permanently. And the Social Security Administration does not set this up automatically. It does not compare the two records and send you the higher amount. You have to apply for it separately, and millions of couples never do. The most common reason this goes unclaimed is that people assume Social Security handled it when they applied. It didn't. Your own retirement benefit and any spousal benefit you may be entitled to are two separate claims processed separately. If you are currently receiving a benefit based only on your own earnings record and your spouse receives a meaningfully larger check, it is worth a direct call to SSA at 1807721213 to ask specifically whether a spousal benefit topup applies to your situation. Bring both of your social security numbers. This call takes about 20 minutes and it could result in a permanent increase to your monthly income.
Payout number two, the survivor benefit switching strategy. This one applies to widows and widowers, and it is one of the most consistently overlooked strategies in the entire social security system. When a spouse passes away, the surviving partner is entitled to receive up to 100% of the deceased's social security benefit if it is larger than their own. The average monthly survivor benefit in 2026 is $1,863. Most widows and widowers know this at a basic level. What almost nobody knows is that survivor benefits can begin as early as age 60 and that there is a strategy built around this that SSA will almost never explain unless you specifically ask. Here is how it works. A widow or widower can begin collecting survivor benefits at 60, receiving a reduced amount while leaving their own personal social security retirement benefit completely untouched. Their own benefit continues growing at 8% per year past full retirement age until age 70 when it reaches its maximum. At that point, they switch from the survivor benefit to their own now significantly larger retirement benefit or if the survivor benefit is larger at that point, they stay on it. The household gets income throughout their 60s while preserving the ability to lock in the highest possible lifetime benefit at 70. People who never apply for survivor benefits early because they plan to wait until 70 for their own benefit miss years of income they could have been receiving. These two things are not mutually exclusive. SSA does not explain this combination. You have to know to ask.
Payout number three, the IRMAA appeal. This one is for people who were higher earners and it involves a Medicare surcharge that most people don't realize they can eliminate. If your income exceeded $19,000 as a single filer or $218,000 as a married couple in 2024, Medicare is charging you extra in 2026 above and beyond the standard $22.90 part B premium. These surcharges called IRMAA range from an extra $1,148 to $6,936 per person per year depending on your income tier. They come out of your social security check automatically before you ever see it. Here is where it gets important. SSA calculates IRMAA using your tax return from 2 years ago. That means your 2026 surcharge is based on your 2024 income. If your situation has changed since then, if you retired, if you sold a property, if you had any one-time income event that temporarily pushed your earnings up, if your spouse passed away, you may be paying a surcharge based on income you no longer have and no longer earn. The fix is a single form called SSA-44. It exists specifically for people who have experienced a qualifying life-changing event. Retirement, reduced hours, loss of a pension, death of a spouse, divorce. You file it with documentation of your current income. SSA reviews it and the surcharge gets reduced or eliminated. A successful appeal can save between $1,148 and $6,936 per person per year. Most people paying these surcharges have never heard that an appeal process exists. Download SSA-44 at ssa.gov or pick it up at any Social Security office.
Payout number four, WEP and GO corrections. If you spent part of your career in a job that had its own pension and did not pay into Social Security, teaching, public safety, federal civil service, this one may apply to you directly. And there may be money owed to you right now that you have not yet received. The Social Security Fairness Act signed into law in January 2025 eliminated two rules called WEP and GO that had for decades reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for people who also received a government pension. The elimination was retroactive to January 2024, meaning SSA owed back payments to affected recipients covering 2024, as well as ongoing higher monthly payments going forward. SSA has been processing these corrections throughout 2025 and into 2026 and has already paid out billions in back payments. The average one-time retroactive payment for affected recipients has been approximately $6,710. Monthly benefits have increased by an average of $360 per month permanently. However, not everyone who is affected has had their case fully processed. And some people who are entitled to these corrections have not yet seen the adjustment in their check. If you receive or previously received a government pension from a job where you did not pay into Social Security as a teacher, firefighter, police officer, or federal employee, and your Social Security benefit was reduced under the old rules, call SSA at 1807721213 and ask specifically whether your account has been updated under the Social Security Fairness Act and whether any retroactive payment is pending on your record.
Payout number five, your Medicare Advantage OTC benefit. This one is different from the others because it does not require a phone call or an appeal. It just requires you to check something you probably have not checked. If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, which roughly half of all Medicare recipients are, your plan almost certainly includes what is called an over-the-counter benefit. This is a monthly or quarterly allowance loaded onto a prepaid card or account that you can spend on health-related items without a prescription. Vitamins, pain relievers, cold medicine, dental care products, first aid supplies, blood pressure monitors. The specific list varies by plan, but the coverage is real and the amounts are meaningful. The average OTC benefit across Medicare Advantage plans in 2026 is over $400 per year. Some plans provide $1,200 to $2,400 or more annually. According to CMS data, roughly 70% of these benefits go unused every year. About $5 billion sitting in accounts that expire without being spent. The most common reason is simple. People enrolled in Medicare Advantage don't know the benefit exists or they received a card in the mail and didn't understand what it was for. To check whether you have an OTC benefit, log into your plan's member portal or call the member services number on the back of your Medicare card and ask specifically about your OTC benefit balance and how to use it. If the benefit period is quarterly, unused balances typically don't roll over. They expire and reset. Check now so you don't lose what's already been allocated to your account.
So, here is the full picture. Five payouts that belong to people who have already earned them. The spousal benefit topup that SSA never applies automatically and millions of couples are missing. The survivor benefit switching strategy that allows you to collect income in your 60s while your own benefit grows. The IRMAA appeal that can eliminate a Medicare surcharge worth thousands per year if your income has dropped since the year SSA is using to calculate it. The WEP and GO correction payments that are still being processed and may be sitting on your record uncollected and the Medicare Advantage OTC benefit that is loaded into your account right now and will expire unused if you don't spend it. None of these come looking for you. The SSA is not going to call. Your Medicare plan is not going to remind you when the balance expires. The only difference between the people who receive this money and the people who don't is knowing it exists and taking one step to claim it. Subscribe. Share this with someone you know who is on Social Security or Medicare. and I'll see you in the next.