Dear fellow community members and readers of the Dallas Vietnamese Weekly, in the last issue, Charlie shared with you important information about health insurance. This week I continue with the latest information for people who use Medicare and those who receive public benefits. Through real-life stories from people Charlie is helping, I hope this article gives you plenty of useful information.

Some good news for those on government Original Medicare: on October 2, President Trump announced that nearly 21 million Americans on Original Medicare will receive $90 to help pay their Medicare Part B premium. This fund of nearly $2 billion comes from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which Congress established in 2008 and which has never been used since.

Eligible people are expected to receive the money directly in their bank accounts in mid-October. If you do not have a bank account, the Treasury Department will mail a check directly to you from mid- to late October. The check will carry the words “Medicare Improvement Fund Payment,” meaning a payment from the Medicare Improvement Fund: ninety dollars to offset October’s Medicare Part B premium.

To receive this payment, you must meet all four of the following conditions at the same time.

First condition: the person must be on Original Medicare and pay the Part B premium themselves. Last week Charlie explained that Part B pays for doctors, lab tests, and office visits. The original card is the government card, with a white background and red and blue stripes. If you have switched your benefits to a private plan, called Part C or Medicare Advantage, you are not on the list this time, even though you still pay the Part B premium to the government every month.

Second condition: the person must be living in the United States. People who have moved back to Vietnam for a long time, or who live abroad, will not receive this assistance.

Third condition: the person must not be receiving help from Medicaid. Charlie has also explained that Medicaid is a type of public benefit for people with low income. Many people have both Medicare and Medicaid. Many people have their Part B premium paid by Texas Medicaid through the Medicare Savings Program. If your Part B premium is already being paid for you, you will not receive the extra ninety dollars.

Fourth condition: the person must be paying no more than $202.90 for Part B. Many of you may be surprised and ask, “Some people pay more than $202.90 for Part B?” Yes, that is right. Households whose income exceeds the high-income thresholds set by law pay much more, sometimes five or six hundred dollars a month for Medicare Part B. Those high-income households will not receive the ninety dollars.

To find out whether you qualify for this $90, you can call the Social Security Administration (SSA) at 1-800-772-1213 after October 15 to get an exact answer.

Speaking of Medicare Part B premiums rising to $500-600 a month, Charlie recently helped with a very unusual case. An elderly woman has only a pension of a little over $1,000 a month. Two years ago she won more than $200,000 in a lottery, and she gave most of that windfall to relatives, then spent the rest on travel and casinos. She thought it was harmless fun, but this year she was shocked to see more than half of her monthly pension deducted for Medicare Part B. She is not alone: many of her acquaintances wonder, “All the money has been lost or spent, so why is it still counted as income and why is the insurance premium so expensive?” That is indeed a very common way of thinking. We often do not read the rules of the law carefully, but rely on our own assumptions or on unverified information, and when it happens, the consequences are a surprise. Her situation arose because Medicare uses the tax return from two years earlier (2024) to set the Part B premium for the current year (2026), and her tax return showed net income above $109,000 for that year, so she was charged the high-income premium.

To respond to a problem like this, the first thing to do is not to try to cancel Medicare on your own, and not to hire strangers to “handle your paperwork,” which only leads to losing money and making things worse. Stay calm and read the SSA’s letter about the decision to reduce your benefit payment and raise your Medicare Part B premium, so you know the real cause. Then appeal as quickly as possible if you believe the SSA’s decision does not match reality. In particular, if your income this year has returned to normal levels because of a life-changing event, or the excess amount came from a one-time event, you have every right to appeal and ask for the premium to be recalculated. To appeal effectively, prepare clear evidence to submit with your appeal, then contact SSA by phone or at the address given in the notice letter.

Besides retirees like the woman above, people who do not receive a pension but receive Supplemental Security Income for the elderly or disabled, also called SSI, also need to pay attention to the Social Security Administration’s latest notice. On October 1, the SSA posted an article titled “Did You Know That Certain Changes Can Affect SSI Payments?” The agency wrote: “Changes in your income, resources, or living arrangements can directly affect your eligibility and the amount of your SSI payment.” In other words, changes in your income, assets, or living arrangements can directly affect whether you continue to receive benefits and how much.

That article describes situations Charlie helps people with every day: many people lose SSI and as a result lose all the other benefits tied to SSI, such as Medicare-Medicaid, food stamps, caregiver services, and so on. The Social Security Administration lists very specific events that can change or stop your benefits, such as:

• Money in the bank exceeding the allowed limit.
• A change of address that goes unreported; lost notice letters can lead to benefits being cut off.
• A change in marital status (marriage, divorce, separation) or a change of citizenship.

Reporting early helps you avoid having the SSA collect back overpayments or impose administrative penalties. You can report changes by calling 1-800-772-1213 or by mailing a letter to your local SSA office where you currently live.

Charlie sees that many people hesitate to notify the Social Security Administration, afraid that their benefits will be reduced. That fear is understandable, since benefits pay for groceries, medicine, rent, doctor visits, and so on. But the responsibility to report and explain rests with the person receiving the benefits, and the authority to make changes and to demand repayment rests with the government. So follow the rules transparently at all times to avoid difficult complications from paperwork later.

If you still have concerns or questions, Charlie is glad to receive your questions and feedback at [email protected] and will answer them in upcoming issues of “Góc Nhìn Charlie.”

Wishing you peace and success on your settlement journey in the United States!

Charlie Nhan Tran, MBA

Excerpt in this article taken from the Social Security Administration, October 1, 2026: https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/mip/2026-10-01-a.html