Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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A 70%-disabled veteran with a spouse collects $1,961.45 a month in 2026
A veteran with a single service-connected disability rated 70% receives a different monthly check depending on one line in the paperwork: whether a spouse is listed as a dependent. Under the compensation rates the Department of Veterans Affairs put into effect on Dec. 1, 2025, that line is worth $153 a month, and VA pays…
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A widow or widower who claims survivor benefits at 60 starts at 71.5% of the late spouse’s Social Security check
Survivor benefits under Social Security are not paid at a single flat rate; the percentage depends entirely on how old a widow or widower is the day they file. A surviving spouse who claims at the earliest possible age, 60, receives 71.5% of the amount the deceased spouse was entitled to, and that percentage climbs…
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Obamacare premiums for 2027 are rising 22.2% in Washington, 15.97% in Pennsylvania and 6% in New York after state reviews
State insurance regulators finalized 2027 Affordable Care Act marketplace rates this month, and the increases vary sharply by state: Washington approved an average 22.2% rise, Pennsylvania approved 15.97%, and New York held its increase to 6%. Each state’s insurance department reviewed and trimmed what insurers originally requested before signing off on a final number. The…
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An SSI recipient earning $317 a month still gets an $878 federal check because SSI ignores the first $65 and half the rest
A Supplemental Security Income recipient who earns $317 in a month does not lose $317 from their federal check. Under the formula the Social Security Administration uses to count earned income, the first $65 of wages in a month is ignored entirely, and only half of whatever is left above that counts against the benefit.…
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Social Security’s 2027 raise could add about $68 a month to the average retirement check, a seniors group estimates
The Senior Citizens League, a nonprofit that tracks federal retiree benefits, estimates that Social Security’s 2027 cost-of-living adjustment will land at 3.5%, which would add about $68 to an average $1,940.08 monthly retirement check. The number is a projection, not an announcement: the Social Security Administration calculates and reveals the real percentage on October 14,…
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Medicare Advantage members whose plan is not renewing get a notice in October telling them to find new coverage
Every October, a subset of Medicare Advantage members opens a piece of mail unlike what most other enrollees receive that month: a notice stating that the plan will not continue into the next year and instructing the member to find new coverage. Medicare’s own guidance describes the notice in plain terms, and it is a…
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Amazon customers who returned items have until December 1 to file in the return-refund settlement, while some are paid automatically
Amazon customers whose returns or refunds went wrong between 2017 and early 2026 have until December 1 to act on a class-action settlement that has already set aside money for them. Some of those customers do not have to file anything at all; the settlement pays them automatically. Others have to submit a claim form…
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A fake real-estate guru who took $2.76 million from church members was sentenced to 48 months
A Wisconsin man who built an online persona as a real-estate investment expert was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison after taking $2.76 million from investors, most of them fellow Nigerian immigrants and members of his own church. Joseph Nantomah, 49, marketed himself as “The Black Mentor” and hosted conferences and classes built around…
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A Chicago man who supplied nearly $1.5 million in stolen and altered Treasury checks was sentenced to 160 months
A Chicago man was sentenced to 160 months in federal prison for supplying nearly $1.5 million in stolen and altered U.S. Treasury checks to co-conspirators who cashed them at banks and credit unions across eastern Iowa. Tyrone Terrell Harris, 34, was sentenced in federal court in Cedar Rapids after a scheme that ran checks meant…
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The Trump administration moved against 170 New York City food stamp stores, with penalties up to permanent removal
The Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture has moved against 170 food stamp retailers across New York City, spanning all five boroughs, with penalties that range from a temporary suspension to permanent removal from the program. The announcement frames New York City as one piece of a much larger nationwide sweep against retailer fraud in the…