April 2025 – The Scariest Moments of My Life

This newsletter is quite long, so feel free to skip to the sections that interest you most.

This edition also has the highest chance of me making you upset to where you hate me forever, which… it is unfortunate that we live in a time where trying to present information off of data and not news headlines gets me in trouble with people, but… it’s the world I’ve chosen to live in. We all have our ability to choose how we feel.

I am not a political person.
I do not have a side, but I will address topics that have heavy political implications based on them being related to Medicare and Social Security… the two biggest government programs in existence that account for 58% of our country’s mandatory spending budget.

I hope we can still be friends, and any attempt to read into my political preference and try to find my slant, I promise, will be an incorrect assumption.

BUT! I bare my soul in the words of wisdom and give an interesting book recommendation, so just skip to those if you don’t want to learn about Medicare and Social Security numbers.

Read on at your own risk.

Here is the agenda:

Some Medicare Numbers
Some Social Security Numbers
A Mysterious, Mind-Bending Book Recommendation
The Scariest Moments of My Life

Some Medicare Numbers

I always need to start with a disclaimer that I am NOT recommending Medicare Advantage plans for everyone.

I am not personally paid more if someone chooses an Advantage plan over a Supplement plan. Most agents are. My arrangement is different and I am not.

I say this, because we are going to go over how much the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) increased Medicare Advantage payments for 2026.

People tend to get a little upset.
Some is warranted.
Most is not.

I’ll hit you with some data and you can come to your own conclusions.

2026 Final Rule

The Final Rule established a payment increase to Medicare Advantage plan insurance companies of 5.06%.

Here is a chart for the past several years. The dark blue bars are the most meaningful.

Every year, there is a proposed decision referred to as the Advanced Notice (green bars).

This is what CMS proposes they are wanting do – in our example here, it is Advantage payments.

There are other topics like marketing rules, Part D payments, and a lot of other stuff.

Lobbyists, insurance companies, healthcare systems, agents, congresspeople, and everyone else chime in on what they think about the Advanced Notice, and then adjustments are made.

From this chart, you can see that:

This is the largest increase to MA payments in the last 8 years, barely edging out 2023.
It is the largest discrepancy between the Advanced Notice and the Final Rule… by quite a bit.

Here’s where people go wrong.

The reactions I’ve seen have been, “See! Trump and Dr. Oz are trying to force everyone to Medicare Advantage!”

Again, I am about as non-party-loving-political person you will find, and I’m just telling you right now, this has nothing to do with them (Trump & Dr. Oz).

Let’s look at what CMS says and another chart:

“Each year for the Rate Announcement, CMS updates the growth rates to be based on the most current estimate of per capita costs, based on the available historical program experience and projected trend assumptions at that time. The growth rates change between proposed and final as CMS incorporates updated data and assumptions. This year, the change in growth rates from the Advance Notice to the Rate Announcement is due primarily to the incorporation of additional FFS payment data, including through the fourth quarter of 2024.”

https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2026-medicare-advantage-and-part-d-rate-announcement

Here’s the chart:

What does all of this mean?

Well, the growth rate refers to the rising costs of healthcare in general, and more specifically to insurance companies.
In fact, it is higher than it has been in those same 8 years… by a lot.

And this is also validated in the Medicare Supplement plan increases from 2024 to 2025 and what’s projected for 2026.
Supplement plan premiums increased by an average of about 10% from 2024 – 2025, with some going up by 20%+

There are some insurance companies in certain areas of the country that have a 40% increase to their supplement plans coming for 2026.

So, this isn’t just an Advantage plan thing… it’s a healthcare in general thing.

Healthcare costs have risen rapidly for years, and now the math is catching up – for both Advantage and Supplement plans.

This past Annual Enrollment Period we saw a lot of Advantage plan insurance companies eliminate several of their plans across the country.

Why?
Because medical costs were too high for them to sustain those plans.

Why?
Well, one of the reasons is because the Inflation Reduction Act shifted more of the cost responsibility of Part D prescription drug coverage to insurance companies to accommodate the $2,000 max out of pocket.

A massive bailout was pushed through for standalone Part D drug plans (you would get going the supplement plan route) but not Advantage plans.

This led to those plans exiting the market, slightly higher max out of pockets for many of the plans that stuck around, reduced benefits for many of the plans that stuck around, and other tweaks to coverages.

So, it would appear that CMS noticed the cost differentials and made adjustments accordingly. As long as Advantage plan insurance companies do not see healthcare costs rise by more than 5.06%, they can maintain benefits and plans. If healthcare costs continue to go at anything over 5.06%, we continue to have problems.

This isn’t meant to scare anyone. We’ll be here to get everyone through it, and plans will still be around with good coverage, but it’s important to understand the “why” behind the numbers that you may see and hear out there when it relates to Medicare.

People are going to want you to panic and get angry at whomever that person presenting doesn’t like politically.
Try to ignore the slants to the stories. Hopefully this math helps tell the real, more unbiased story better.

Healthcare costs are not a pleasant topic.
They are going up.
Everyone is adjusting accordingly.

This leads me to Social Security.

Social Security Updates and Numbers

I put a video out there almost two weeks ago.
In those 10 days, it has become my 6th most viewed video OF ALL TIME!
Which is absolutely crazy.

It talks about the Social Security identity verification processes that went into effect on April 14th.
Clicking that blue link will take you to the video if you haven’t seen it already, but here’s the quick summary.

You do NOT need to do ANYTHING if:
You are currently receiving SS benefits or Medicare and nothing has changed.

If you want to sign up for Medicare, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), or Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
You can do all of these online through your My Social Security account or over the phone.

You do NOT need to go in-person to the office.

If you want to apply for regular Social Security benefits, survivor benefits, auxiliary benefits (spousal or child), or change your Direct Deposit information for existing benefits:
You can do all of these online with your My Social Security account.

If you cannot go online for these four things… That is when you would need to verify your identity in person.

Realities of Working with the Social Security Administration

Now, in the 10-ish years I’ve been dealing with the Social Security Administration, I can tell you that the hold times are long.

There are times when the people who do finally answer are not helpful and it feels like you can’t get to the right person.

Scheduling an appointment may be months out.

All of this was happening before and is happening now.

However, with recent cuts to staff and attempts to make changes to the system, it hasn’t made the existing problems any better.

So… if you are needing to call into Social Security, or go in-person, prepare for long wait times.

This will vary depending on where you live and your local office’s staffing.

Social Security Fraud

The other big story is around Social Security fraud.
This all came out a while ago, but I try to track down the real numbers based on data before posting a knee-jerk reaction.
So, I made a video about the truth of whether or not we have millions of people over 115 years old receiving Social Security money here:
Billions Lost to Social Security Fraud

The quick answer is no.
We do not have Social Security payments going to any dead people who are 115 years old (or older).

Is there Social Security fraud out there?
Yes. To the tune of about 9 Billion dollars annually.

Is it from really old, dead people?
No.

Please be careful with what you watch and read.
Now, let’s get to the more interesting stuff.

Book Recommendation

The One by John Marrs

I don’t know how this one came across my radar, but I’m glad it did.
The premise is… What if science could determine your one, true, soulmate, with 100% accuracy?
And, once you meet your soulmate, you are guaranteed to experience that spark, and know that the two of you will truly be compatible for the rest of your lives?

Would you take the test?
Even if you were already married?

This book really got me thinking about life and relationships.
As you can tell from the cover, things don’t go quite as planned.

Read it, and then watch the TV Series.
As is the case with pretty much every book-turned-show… the book is better 🙂

Get it Here

Words of Wisdom

The Scariest Moments of My Life

April 16th, 2015.

Ten years to the day from when I’m writing this.

What’s happening in my life on this day is that Caitlin and I are expecting our second child.
A baby boy.

Which means we will have completed the set (we already had a beautiful daughter).

Caitlin starts having intense contractions.
Her water breaks.

It’s go time.

At the Hospital
Caitlin and I got to the hospital around 6 AM and she felt she was ready to deliver this baby right then and there. The trouble is, her doctor didn’t clock in until 8 AM.

The attending physician and nurses notified our OBGYN that Caitlin had come in, and I guess the “normal” time to be in labor is a couple-to-many hours, so everyone just assumed we wanted our regular doctor to deliver our baby.

The reality was, Caitlin doesn’t have long labor times and we couldn’t care less who delivered our baby, we just wanted everyone to be safe.
But, somehow, the message was, “They are okay to wait for their regular doctor.”

8 o’clock rolls around.
Then 8:30.
Then 9…

Caitlin tells her nurse that she is uncomfortable and she almost feels like she’s holding the baby in because she’s been ready to go for an hour and a half.

Finally, the doctor arrives, and it’s go-time.

Warning: Things get a little graphic
The moment her doctor is in position and checks her, she goes, “Yep, this baby is ready to go!”

She instructs Caitlin to push.
Caitlin does, and our son’s head appears.

Seriously… it was like… her 2nd push, so Caitlin was right… she had been ready to go for a while.

It’s at this moment that I need to take you into the inner workings of my brain, and a problem I’ve had my whole life.

Deep, dark thoughts that have haunted me for as long as I can remember.

I’m Not Worthy
I can’t point to any particular moment or event that started this belief in me, but I’ve always had this idea that I’m not worthy of the life I’ve been given.

The luck, the good-fortune, the blessings… whatever you want to call it… deep down in my mind, I’ve always been planning for the day when the universe says, “You know what Erik, you’ve had too much good in your life… it’s time to experience the bad.”

I had seen so much sadness and heartbreak and tragedy around me, but I hadn’t ever experienced anything like that myself, so… my brain thinks, “Erik, buckle up. Yours is coming.”

As a result, with each of our kids and their births, I’m a nervous wreck.

I keep it all inside. There aren’t any external signs or panic attacks. My mind is just always planning for the worst.

“Is everyone going to be okay, or will my worst nightmare happen right in front of me?”

Anytime an unknown caller pops up in my phone, there is a split second where I think, “There’s been an accident involving my family, and this could be the police calling.”

It is with this understanding of my psyche that you and I are going to relive this moment on April 16th, 2015.

My Baby Boy
Back to the story.

Caitlin pushes once…
Caitlin pushes twice…
And Jared James Soderborg’s face hits the world outside the womb for the first time.

But… there’s a problem.

As his tiny little face appears, I notice that it is a deep shade of purple.

And time, in some, supernatural… unexplainable way… seems to crash to a halt.
And everything moves in slow motion.

The doctor and nurse get deathly quiet.
They both move quickly, working to free more of his body.

The only sounds I can hear are Caitlin’s quick breaths and her pushes.

More of our son’s body appears.
His neck and shoulders are out.
And the umbilical cord is around his neck.

He isn’t moving.
He isn’t crying.
He isn’t making a sound.

I don’t know what to do.
I’m terrified.
I am powerless.

In my mind, I start to think, “It’s happening. What I’ve always known was coming, is here.”

I notice the doctor wraps her finger between the umbilical cord and my son’s neck and there is this quick, almost imperceptible exchange of glances between her and the nurse.

The doctor reaches for this little communicator/pager device around her neck where she can push a button and call on different departments of the hospital.

She presses the button and calmly says, “Prepare the NICU,” while telling Caitlin to keep pushing.

Jared still is not moving

Caitlin continues pushing and the doctor pulls Jared’s shoulders clear.

Why isn’t he crying?
Babies are supposed to be crying.
And why is his face so purple?!

The Timing
I’ve relived this moment a thousand times in my head, and I have to believe that the total elapsed time of everything I just described was probably 10-20 seconds, but it felt like 3 or 4 hours.

We’ll say it was 20 seconds… and it is at that moment, Jared moves.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been sleeping and you had a dream where you are falling, and then you jolt awake trying to catch yourself from falling.
Ever experienced that?

That’s the movement I would describe Jared having. This jolt, and then his eyes open, and he starts crying.

I don’t think I was holding my breath this whole time, but as soon as he moves and is crying, it felt like I let out every ounce of air in my lungs with this exhale, feeling like, “Okay, he’s alive. But, will everything be okay? That didn’t feel normal.”

The tension in the room between the nurse, doctor, and myself immediately evaporates, and both of their hands start working on Jared.

The traditional dad’s cutting of the umbilical cord was not offered to me at this point, which made me feel like they were still being cautious around what they saw and experienced.

The Aftermath
Caitlin had no idea what was going on.

She couldn’t see anything because of the whole setup and blankets blocking her view.
She also seemed to be focused on the labor of childbirth itself, and she was hopped up on the epidural that limited how much she could really feel down there, so she is oblivious to what I saw and was thinking – which is a good thing.

I asked the doctor if I saw what I thought I saw, and she confirmed that yes, his face was abnormally purple and yes, the umbilical cord was on his neck.

She went back through what she saw and did, mentioning that she wrapped her finger between the umbilical cord and his neck to see how tight it was.
It turns out, it was on his neck, not wrapped around his neck.

She then said that babies will often have bruising on their faces from making their way down the birth canal, but his face seemed to be more bruised because he had been sitting there ready to go for a while as we waited for her to show up.

Everything has an explanation, I guess.
I kind of wish we hadn’t waited, but… he’s alive, and Caitlin is safe.

Noel holding baby Jared.

But wait… there’s more…

Fast forward to April 7th, 2016.

Jared is 8 days away from his 1st birthday, and our family is in Bend, Oregon, visiting my wife’s sister and her family.

After a 10 hour drive, we are settling in for the night.

I’m feeding Jared a bottle and putting him to sleep.
As he’s drinking his bottle, he stops, and he slowly starts to stiffen, arching his back.

I’m totally confused about what’s happening.

It felt like he was trying to do a super big stretch, pushing his head back and continuing to arch his back, but then he started twitching, and he started making this sound that I can only describe as a choking noise.
And then his eyes rolled back in his head.

I was in a guest room and I came out to Caitlin and her sister.
I told Caitlin, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I think we need to call an ambulance.”

Caitlin and her sister start to panic.

Caitlin immediately starts crying as she sees Jared’s expression and the sounds he is making.
Caitlin’s sister is also crying, not knowing what to do.

I lay him on the ground and try to tilt him on his side as his face starts to turn an eerie shade of pale blue.
I tell my sister-in-law that I need her to call 911 and tell them your address while I try to make sure his airway is clear.

I just can’t figure out what’s happening. He was drinking milk, not eating anything solid.
Why does it seem like he can’t breathe?!

And again… time… freezes.

I’m trying to make sure he is breathing and has a pulse.
Caitlin is crying hysterically off to the side against a wall.
My sister-in-law is telling her address to the dispatcher.

I’m begging whatever higher power may exist to not let this happen, and those thoughts I shared with you before hit me… “Erik, it’s your turn to experience tragedy.”
And I feel like I’m about to witness my little boy die in my arms.

He’s not moving and his eyes have this glossy, unfocused look to them, and he lets out this long, slow exhale that has this little moan to it during the entire breath out.

He pauses. His body loosens up.
And he finally takes a deep inhale.

He starts these slow, calm breaths, with these little moans on every exhale.

The total elapsed time of all of this felt like an hour.
But in real time… it was probably 2 minutes.

The Ambulance Arrives
Some local EMTs and an ambulance arrive.

The adrenaline coursing through me has me pretty jittery and trying to compose myself to explain what happened to the gentleman who’s talking to me as they look at Jared while I hold him.

They take his temperature and he has a pretty high fever.

The EMT explains that this was a febrile seizure, and they are common in small children when they run a high fever.
It’s sort of like the body’s reset button.

As long as the seizure doesn’t last too long, there’s nothing wrong.
It all looks and sounds scary, but he will be fine.
Just get him some Tylenol and put him in a lukewarm bath to lower his temperature.

He said it way nicer than this, but as I played it back in my brain, he basically said, “It’s no big deal and you kind of freaked out over nothing.”

Later, my youngest girl had one of these while I was at work.
Even though we’d experienced it before, it still freaked us out and led to an ambulance call.

Baby Jared the day after this episode at the park with big sister.

A Father and Son

I’ll try to explain this as delicately as I can.

I love all of my children equally.
There is a special bond I get to have as father between my two daughters that is indescribable, and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.
I want to protect my daughters from anything and everything – including boys – because I know how boys think.
My girls are precious and beautiful and sweet and tender.
There is a pressure to teach them to value themselves and stay true to who they are and who they want to become.

There is a slightly different bond to my son.
I (think) I understand how boys think.
I can see myself in him in a different way than I can my daughters, and, in a weird way, he’s my paternal line’s last link to carry on my last name – at least through my direct blood line.
I still want to protect him from anything and everything, but there is this different responsibility I feel to teach him how to be a strong, kind, respectful man.

Jared has grown up to be a mini-me.
He wants to hang out with me… always.
He loves the same sports I love.
He gets the same grades I used to get in school.
His body is built similarly to how I was built as a little kid.
He has the same insecurities and perfectionism characteristics I had (have).

And, today, as I write this, it is his 10th birthday.

My mom always told me that you should never go to school or work on your birthday, so in her memory, he skipped school today and hung out with me.

We went to lunch with my dad – a Wednesday tradition.

We went to his favorite sports store and got him a basketball jersey of one of his favorite players and a new pair of shoes.

I don’t know how many of you remember what it’s like living with 10-year-old boys, but he goes through shoes like all of my kids go through candy.
And, with all of his activities and general lack of awareness when it comes to hygiene, his shoes smell terrible.
So… My shoe bills have increased dramatically over the past couple of years.

We stopped off at the local mini-golf course and had a round of mini-golf on the haunted house course.

We came home, relaxed on the couch watching his favorite NBA player (Steph Curry), and when his sisters got home from school, we ate cake and ice cream.

It was a good day.

Me trying to take a selfie with Jared at Mini-Golf.

The Importance of Life
Life is such a rollercoaster of ups and downs.
Happiness and misery.
Joy and pain.
And a whole lot of mindless, numb, not-memorable, boring, mundane events that seem to take up most of our lives and distract us from the things that matter most.

While he and I were at a stoplight driving home from mini-golf, I just looked over at him, he looked over at me, and I noticed how blue his perfect little eyes are, and the freckles on his cheeks and nose, and his big smile, and it’s hard to believe that those are the same eyes, and smile that I felt were slipping away from me 9 and 10 years ago.

All the memories he and I have had together over these 10 years are precious, and there were a couple moments there, where I believed I’d never get these years.

Given the size of those who receive this newsletter, the odds are quite high that one or more of you reading have actually lived what I was fortunate enough to escape.

You lost a child, a parent, a friend, and you have spent however many years since that occasion wondering – what if?

I’ve since lost people close to me.
I’ve since experienced tragedies in different ways than my own kids, and no matter how much I’ve tried to prepare for them, I’m never really “ready.”

I genuinely hope you are doing okay.
So much of the world seems to try to dehumanize everyone else around us.
Pit us against one another to argue with each other or fight each other or hurt each other – all arguing about topics we can’t control carried out be people we’ve never met.

I think that if we were able to sit down across from one another, no matter the race, religion, political stance, or age… I think we would find that we, as humans, have so much more in common with each other – especially within the core essence of what makes us the individuals we are..

I think we all want to be healthy.
I think we all want our family and friends to be safe and live lives with more joy.
I think we all want to be able to pursue activities that we are passionate about.
I think we all want to love and be loved.

THAT is what I think humanity is (or should be) all about.

My Big 3
My life is on YouTube in a number of ways.
I’m pretty sure everyone getting this is here as a result of The Retirement Nerds YouTube channel, but did you know that I have a few others?

My big 3 passions in life are (in order):

My Family
We have a family YouTube channel where we post our travel videos – especially from our road trip this past summer. Almost done with that project. It was a beast, but SOOOO worth it.

If you haven’t seen it already, here is that channel:
The Soda Family
Helping People Where I Can
The decisions in my life have led me to somehow know a bit more than the average person when it comes to Medicare, and then I have some wonderful people in my life who know a lot about other retirement topics like Social Security, Financial Planning, and Estate Planning.

My professional calling in life is to help as many people as possible make the incredibly complicated retirement decisions hopefully a lot easier to navigate.
I feel so grateful to know you through that.
Sports and Coaching
Sports have always been a huge part of my life.
I grew up playing basketball, baseball, football, golf, and tennis at relatively high levels, lettering in 4 of those sports in high school and having a few offers for 2 of them to play after high school.

In a circle of life moment, I now have the opportunity to coach and play with my daughters and son in the sports they also enjoy, and it is better than any personal success I ever had in any of these sports.

In an effort to help my son pursue his dreams of playing high school basketball, as well as help other kids and their parents understand the realities of high school sports, I started a podcast where I interview some of the best high school coaches and players in our state to see what they feel is important to succeed as a high school athlete.

That one is called Making the Team and can be found here:
Making the Team

I’ll continue keeping you up to date on all things retirement related.
If the other two topics interest you (my crazy family or a sports podcast for kids and parents), check them out, subscribe, and enjoy seeing me in a slightly different lens of my life with people much cooler than me.
Just… don’t use my “non-professional” moments against me 🙂

Thank you so much for reading. As I’ve made it to this point, I am now realizing that I probably need to leave a secret code word for those who made it this far…

Hmm… how about… what have you felt has been a moment in your life where you’ve realized your calling?
Maybe you were able to help someone nobody else could.
Or, maybe you have a certain skill that has been useful in your life. Something along those lines.

Please know how much I appreciate you for the human and person you are, and I hope you have a wonderful month, and I’ll see you in the next newsletter 🙂

Erik

Look at that slobbery face and curly toes…

5-year-old Jared golfing with dad and grandpa

Even bigger Jared helping me interview his favorite high school basketball player in our state.
Jared was so excited to participate in this interview and ask Carlo a question: Carlo Mulford Interview