The American Retirement Advisor — News & Insights

Can you beat Eddie at this week's quiz?
Retirement Income

Can you beat Eddie at this week's quiz?

Eight true-or-false questions from a busy week: charitable giving, the income surcharge on $0 plans, long-term care, three Medicare rumors, and Social Security's 2027 raise. Every answer links back to the article it came from.

Latest

Same pill, same plan, different counter. Why one prescription costs more at the pharmacy across the street, what preferred actually means, and the thing your pharmacist is allowed to tell you.
Medicare & Healthcare

Same pill, same plan, different counter. Why one prescription costs more at the pharmacy across the street, what preferred actually means, and the thing your pharmacist is allowed to tell you.

Medicare's own words: preferred pharmacies may save you money because they have agreed to charge less than other pharmacies in your plan's network. Same drug, same plan, two prices. Here is the arithmetic on three prescriptions at two counters, when mail order wins and when it does not, the cash-pri

Medicare's enrollment periods, defined with sources. Initial, General, Special, and the two different windows both called Open Enrollment, plus a short path to the one that is actually yours.
Medicare & Healthcare

Medicare's enrollment periods, defined with sources. Initial, General, Special, and the two different windows both called Open Enrollment, plus a short path to the one that is actually yours.

Medicare's website calls the fall window Open Enrollment. The regulation calls it the annual coordinated election period. The industry calls it AEP. January has an Open Enrollment of its own, and the Marketplace has another. Here is every period, its dates, who it is for, when coverage starts, and w

The Annual Notice of Change, read like a spec sheet. The seven lines that matter, the two meters people confuse, and what your plan can change mid-year without asking.
Medicare & Healthcare

The Annual Notice of Change, read like a spec sheet. The seven lines that matter, the two meters people confuse, and what your plan can change mid-year without asking.

Every Advantage and drug plan follows the same government template for this letter, so I pulled the template. Here is the layout, the summary table on page two, the arithmetic for a made-up plan whose premium did not move but whose costs did, and the mid-year changes the rules allow. Deadline for th

Two letters are in the mail. One says your plan is changing for 2027. The other says your plan is going away. How to tell them apart, what happens if you do nothing, and where to bring your questions.
Medicare & Healthcare

Two letters are in the mail. One says your plan is changing for 2027. The other says your plan is going away. How to tell them apart, what happens if you do nothing, and where to bring your questions.

Two different letters are landing this month. One says your plan is changing. The other says your plan is going away. They carry different deadlines and different rights, and the most expensive mistake is treating the second one like the first. Plus the one door that only opens if you go to Original

Trusted by 14,000+ Families

“My full trust is in you folks and always has been since the beginning.”

— Dana B., ARA client since 2019

“Best decision we made years ago in AZ was finding American Retirement Advisors!”

— Ellen K., Scottsdale

“I told my friends I was in the same position and talked to American Retirement Advisors and got my questions answered.”

— Rod H., ARA client

“I was talking to a family friend yesterday and told him what a wonderful job Marc did.”

— Susan S., Mesa

“He comes highly recommended by close friends. I only want to talk to David Edge.”

— Gene M., referred client

“This is my first year in Medicare and your input was extremely helpful.”

— Randy B., new client

How It Works

1

Discovery

We start by learning what you want to accomplish and what you have to work with. We can't help if we don't know the full picture.

2

Build Your Plan

We keep the best of what you already have, replace what can be better, and make sure nothing is falling through the cracks.

3

Review Every Year

As life changes, so should your plan. We lock in an annual review to make sure everything is still working for you.

(877) 220-1089 Request Your Retirement Review →

Medicare & Healthcare

See What Smart Medicare Planning Looks Like →
Three Medicare rumors to ignore this fall
Medicare & Healthcare

Three Medicare rumors to ignore this fall

The Annual Enrollment Period opens today, and three claims are making the rounds that are wrong or out of date: a new escape hatch when your doctor leaves, a $2,000 drug cap, and a rule that you must re-enroll every year. What the official sources actually say.

Will any Medicare plan pay for long-term care?
Medicare & Healthcare

Will any Medicare plan pay for long-term care?

As people compare 2027 Medicare plans, the biggest late-life cost is not on any plan summary. Medicare and Medigap do not pay for long-term care. What Medicare does cover runs out fast, what care costs today, and the questions a couple can settle calmly, before either of them needs it.

Why can a $0 drug plan still bill you?
Medicare & Healthcare

Why can a $0 drug plan still bill you?

Plan shopping starts Thursday, and plenty of plans show a $0 premium. For about 1 in 12 people with Medicare, that is not the whole bill. The income-based Part D surcharge follows you to any plan, so here is how to shop around it instead of into it.

What do the extras really cover?
Medicare & Healthcare

What do the extras really cover?

Dental, vision, and hearing are the extras people notice first, and the plan letter rarely shows their limits. On Medicare.gov, the dental flag read 'not specified' for every plan we pulled. Where the real limits live, and why the extras belong last on your list, not first.

Retirement Planning

Discover How Retirees Protect Their Income →
Can you beat Eddie at this week's quiz?
Retirement Income

Can you beat Eddie at this week's quiz?

Eight true-or-false questions from a busy week: charitable giving, the income surcharge on $0 plans, long-term care, three Medicare rumors, and Social Security's 2027 raise. Every answer links back to the article it came from.

Your 2027 raise is set. What will you keep?
Retirement Income

Your 2027 raise is set. What will you keep?

Social Security's 2027 cost-of-living adjustment is 3.6%, about $75 more a month for the average retiree. What lands in your January deposit depends on a few numbers that are not out yet, plus some that are. A short household check before the year ends.

Giving to charity this year? The rules changed
Retirement Income

Giving to charity this year? The rules changed

Starting in 2026, the first slice of every itemizer's charitable giving is no longer deductible, and top-bracket households see their deductions trimmed. If you are 70½ or older, there is a cleaner route straight from your IRA, and it has to happen by December 31.

The Annual Physical for Your Money
Retirement Income

The Annual Physical for Your Money

You would not skip your annual physical, and you should not skip your money's either. To close out our week on financial interactions, here is what actually happens in a real annual review, piece by piece, and the moment from one of ours that I would put up against any product pitch in the country.

Inheritance Planning

Learn How Families Preserve Their Legacy →