Author: Brian Lund
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Medicare’s Extra Help program can erase most Part D drug costs for lower-income enrollees
One of the most valuable Medicare benefits is also one of the most overlooked: a program called Extra Help that can erase most of what lower-income enrollees pay for prescription drugs. It can wipe out the Part D drug-plan premium and deductible and cut copays to a few dollars per prescription. Yet many people who…
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A Trump order seeks to tie what Medicare pays for drugs to the lower prices paid abroad
A Trump executive order is pushing to tie what Medicare pays for certain prescription drugs to the lower prices that other wealthy countries pay for the same medicines. The idea, often called “most favored nation” pricing, is that the United States should not pay several times what Germany or Canada pays for an identical drug.…
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Retired teachers, police and firefighters are collecting up to $587 more a month after two Social Security cuts were repealed
Retired teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public workers are seeing bigger Social Security checks — in many cases hundreds of dollars more a month — after Congress repealed two provisions that had cut their benefits for decades. The change comes from the Social Security Fairness Act, which eliminated the Windfall Elimination Provision and the…
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States can now charge Medicaid expansion adults up to $35 for a visit under the new law
Millions of adults who got health coverage through Medicaid expansion — and who have paid little or nothing at the doctor’s office — can now be charged up to $35 for a service under the 2025 federal law. States are permitted, and in some cases required, to impose these cost-sharing charges on expansion enrollees whose…
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Social Security can now wipe out an overpayment of $2,000 or less with a single waiver request
If Social Security says it paid you too much, a smaller overpayment can now be cleared with a single waiver request rather than a drawn-out fight. The agency treats overpayments of $2,000 or less differently from large ones, allowing them to be waived through a simplified process when the mistake was not your fault. For…
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Social Security’s 2027 raise is now tracking near 3.5 percent as inflation cools
The raise Social Security beneficiaries will see in January 2027 is shaping up to land near 3.5 percent, according to the latest estimates released after this summer’s inflation reports. That is a projection, not a promise — the official figure will not be set until October 14 — but it gives retirees a realistic number…
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Workers can now deduct up to $12,500 in overtime pay, and it will show up on your W-2
Starting with the 2026 tax year, workers who put in overtime can deduct a big slice of that extra pay when they file, and for the first time the amount will be printed right on their W-2. The deduction is worth up to $12,500 for a single filer and $25,000 for a married couple filing…
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Michigan’s minimum wage hits $15 on January 1, and most states set their 2027 rates next month
Three dates govern this story, and only one of them is on a paycheck. January 1, 2027 is when Michigan’s hourly floor moves to $15.00. September 30, 2026 is the deadline several states have set for publishing the rate that takes effect on that same January morning. And late August is when the price data…
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The Labor Department is scrapping the rules behind a 60-year-old federal hiring order on October 26
Executive Order 11246 never worked by inspecting anyone. It worked through a clause. Since 1965, covered federal contracts had to carry an equal opportunity clause, and a body of regulations sitting behind that clause told contractors exactly what they owed the people they hired and the people who applied: written plans, workforce analyses, records kept…
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HUD just cut how much rent two voucher programs will cover, and agencies have 60 days to comply
Housing agencies across the country are working against a deadline that lands in the first half of October. It was set on August 10, when HUD issued a four-page notice to every public housing agency that runs a voucher program, giving them 60 days to bring two special voucher programs back inside a rent ceiling…