Main Street Dollars

—

by

The federal SSI payment standard for an individual rose to $994 a month for 2026, up from $967 the year before. The amount of savings an SSI recipient is permitted to hold did not move at all. It remains $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple, the same two figures that governed in…

Medicaid renewals go from once a year to twice, starting January 1

—

by

in Government Programs

A Medicaid renewal starts quietly, before any mail goes out. The state first tries to confirm eligibility from records it already holds, and only when that fails does it send a prepopulated form with a minimum of 30 days to return it. Nothing about that sequence is changing. What changes on January 1, 2027, is…

Aetna will pay brokers no commission on 123 Medicare Advantage plans in 2027

—

by

in Medicare

No plan is being canceled here, and no benefit is changing. What is being removed is the payment an insurance agent earns for enrolling someone. Aetna has told the third-party marketing organizations that supply its sales force that it will pay agents and brokers nothing on 123 of its Medicare Advantage plans for the 2027…

The FTC is mailing 640,038 Grubhub refunds, and each check expires after 90 days

—

by

in Settlements & Claims

The deadline is printed on the face of the check. On August 12 the Federal Trade Commission began sending 640,038 payments worth more than $23.8 million to Grubhub drivers and diners, and the instruction attached to that money is a single line: cash it within 90 days, as indicated on the check. Anyone paid through…

Medicaid’s new work rule lands January 1, and a letter starts a 30-day clock

—

by

in Government Programs

Three dates now sit between a federal rulebook and a Medicaid card. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued its community engagement rule on June 1, 2026, and the regulations took effect on July 31, 2026. States must generally have the requirement running no later than January 1, 2027. After that, a single letter…

Social Security takes half your check 30 days after an overpayment notice

—

by

in Social Security

Recovery of a Social Security overpayment runs on a schedule rather than a negotiation. The agency sends a notice, asks for the money back in full, and waits a fixed period. If nothing arrives and nothing is filed, withholding begins on its own, at half of a Title II benefit, and continues every month until…

A credit union branch manager took $381,000 from four elderly customers, one with dementia, and got three years

—

by

in Fraud & Scams

In 2022 a credit union in Columbus, Indiana fired its branch manager after discovering she had forged customer signatures on banking documents. Shortly after the termination, a client contacted the credit union about unauthorized transactions in her father’s account. The internal investigation that followed confirmed both the forged signatures and withdrawals made without permission, and…

Asking rent hit $1,962 and a household now needs $78,488 a year to afford the typical rental

—

by

in Housing & Rent

Comfortably affording the typical U.S. rental takes $78,488 in annual income. Affording the typical mortgage payment takes nearly $99,800. Zillow published both estimates in its July rental report on August 18, and the distance between them, more than $21,000, is the company’s own explanation for why demand for rentals has not softened even after the…

The bill to restore bigger ACA subsidies passed the House in January and has not moved in the Senate since February

—

by

in Government Programs

The Senate has taken no action on H.R. 1834 since February 10, 2026, the day the bill was read a second time and placed on the legislative calendar under General Orders as Calendar No. 319. The House had passed it a month earlier, 230 to 196. More than six months later, that February entry is…

The subsidy holding down stand-alone Medicare drug plan premiums ends after this year, and 2027 plans are priced without it

—

by