Medicare recently announced that a big change is coming to Medicare cards. To prevent identity theft and to help protect the program from fraud, Medicare will be dropping Social Security numbers from Medicare cards and issuing new cards starting next year. .The CBO recently estimated that the two options with the biggest potential for reducing government spending on Medicare in the next ten years include raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67, and increasing the portion of the basic Part B premium that seniors pay from 25% of the cost to 35%. The latter proposal would increase this year's basic monthly Part B premium — currently 4.90 — by about per month. .Key Bill Gains Support .Require Medicare beneficiaries to pay a higher portion of the Part B premium. Premiums for Part B cover physician and hospital outpatient services. The premiums of most seniors, those with incomes under ,000, equal 25 percent of Medicare's total cost of services, and the federal government covers the other 75 percent of the cost. This proposal would require seniors to pay 35 percent instead - like higher-income seniors do now. The 2010 Medicare Trustee report estimates that Part B premiums at the 35% level would be 9.30 per month in 2012. .Cutting the payroll tax permanently, which President Trump said he would seek to do if he is re-elected, would bring insolvency even closer and make the whole situation so much worse. .Enrollees in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans should take a careful look at changes in their health plan for 201These Medicare health plans have new leeway to offer new supplemental benefits. While some of the new benefits may be valuable to some families, other changes, which give plans greater leeway to "tier" the co-pay structure for healthcare providers, may mean higher out-of-pocket costs when non-preferred or out-of-network providers are used. .While retirees won't be getting as much of an increase in their Social Security checks in 2020, the Part B premium, is expected to go up considerably more than it did this year. In 2019, most beneficiaries paid .50 per month more than in 201In 2020, however, the Medicare Trustees have forecast that Part B premiums will increase from 5.50 to 4.30 per month — .80 per month more—an increase of 6.5%. That's four times faster than the COLA. .Your daughter is giving you good advice. It is time to sign up for Medicare. If you are still working, and you aren't yet getting Social Security, then you won't get Medicare automatically, and you need to apply by your Initial Enrollment deadline. It's important to pay attention to Medicare's enrollment deadlines in order to avoid permanent late enrollment penalties or a lapse in your health insurance coverage, but there is excellent free unbiased help available to steer you through this, as near as your local agency on aging or senior center. .You can receive Social Security benefits and unemployment benefits at the same time. But depending on the state where you live, the unemployment benefit amount might be reduced by receipt of a pension or other retirement income like Social Security.