Fifth Third Bank taking over Direct Express program: The U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service selected Fifth Third Bank as the new financial agent to replace Comerica Bank — new enrollments begin May 2026, and the transition for existing customers starts Summer 2026.

You'll receive advance notice and a new debit card from Fifth Third Bank: Beneficiaries will get communications and new cards from Fifth Third Bank before the transition — it's critical to keep your contact information up to date with Social Security to ensure you receive all notices about the switch.

Social Security will continue handling benefit payment questions: For questions specifically about the Direct Express program or the transition, visit the Direct Express contact us page at usdirectexpress.com/contact — the Social Security Administration will still assist with benefit payment inquiries as usual.

Benefits worth only 83.6 cents on the dollar compared to 2016: Senior Citizens League study found overall inflation since 2016 is 43.55% (using proprietary dataset of 70 products/services) while government's CPI-W measure shows only 37.60% — the gap means COLAs have consistently undershot real-world inflation, with 79% of seniors saying inflation substantially outpaced COLA in 2024.

Housing and transportation costs rose most in past decade: Homes, new cars, used cars, vehicle ownership costs (fuel, insurance, maintenance), and rent all made the top 10 for total dollar increase since 2016 — nearly all rose faster than overall inflation rate.

Would take 15.7% across-the-board increase to restore purchasing power: Average Social Security beneficiary would need benefits to increase by $295.85 per month (about $3,550.20 annually) to get the same value as 2016 — TSCL calls for Congress to issue one-time 15.7% raise plus $3,550.20 stimulus, funded by eliminating the tax loophole that lets people stop paying payroll taxes on income above $184,500.

Court upholds Medicare's power to negotiate drug prices for first time: Supreme Court denied appeals from AstraZeneca, Janssen, and other major drugmakers challenging the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act program — leaves in place lower court rulings that participation in Medicare is voluntary and companies "are free to withdraw if they don't like the price the government is offering."

First round already saving billions, second round takes effect next January: First round of 10 drugs (including blood thinner Eliquis and diabetes drug Farxiga) expected to save federal government $6 billion and reduce seniors' out-of-pocket costs by $1.5 billion, with prices that took effect in January — second round of 15 drugs projected to save Medicare $12 billion and cut enrollees' costs by $685 million starting January 2027.

Drugmakers claimed violations of First Amendment, due process, and property rights: Companies argued program leads to "sham negotiation" that violates due process, compels them to "adopt government's narrative" (First Amendment), and amounts to unconstitutional "taking" (5th Amendment) — but lower courts said if companies don't like negotiated prices, they can either withdraw from Medicare/Medicaid or pay hefty excise taxes.