Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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Shoppers have until September 25 to tell the FTC whether stores may set prices using personal data
The Federal Trade Commission has given the public until September 25 to weigh in on whether retailers may use a shopper’s personal data to decide what price that shopper sees. The comment window covers a proposed enforcement policy statement, not a finished rule, and it says nothing about banning the practice outright. Comments are filed…
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Tariffs on imported kitchen cabinets and vanities are scheduled to double to 50 percent on January 1 under Trump’s proclamation
January 1 is the date stamped into Proclamation 11000, the presidential order that sets a course for how much it will cost to import a kitchen cabinet or bathroom vanity into the United States. On that day in 2027, absent a new trade agreement, the tariff on those products is scheduled to double from 25…
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Anyone using an agent for 2027 HealthCare.gov coverage must give a Social Security or immigration document number for every applicant but newborns
Starting with 2027 coverage, anyone who signs up for a Marketplace health plan through an agent or broker will have to supply a Social Security number or an immigration document number for every person on the application except a newborn. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the requirement as part of a wider…
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Trump’s order gives the VA 180 days to add AI tools to benefit applications
Executive Order 14426 sets a six-month deadline for VA to build something it does not currently have: a digital application system that uses artificial intelligence to help veterans apply for benefits. The order, signed Sept. 8, gives VA until 180 days from that date to “create and deploy new digital tools using artificial intelligence and…
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Trump’s order gives the Pentagon 30 days to start sending service records to the VA the day a member leaves the military
Executive Order 14426, signed Sept. 8, gives the Pentagon a fixed window to fix a problem that has quietly slowed veterans’ benefits for years: military records that do not reach VA until long after a service member has already left. Within 30 days of the order, the Department of War must put in place a…
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A veteran facing a VA disability cut gets 60 days to respond, and auditors found a notice that fell short
Federal regulation gives a veteran 60 days to respond before the Department of Veterans Affairs can reduce, discontinue or otherwise cut disability compensation. That window only works if the letter starting it tells the veteran, accurately, what is being proposed and why. An inspector general report released August 31 found cases where the letter did…
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The VA says disability claims now average 75.6 days, down from 141.5
Seventy-five point six days: that is the average the Department of Veterans Affairs now reports for deciding a disability compensation claim, down from 141.5 days on January 20, 2025. The agency published the figure in a September 22 update timed to a milestone: more than 3 million disability claims completed in fiscal year 2026, edging…
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Food stamp error rates hit 10 percent or more in 19 states and DC, with $10.1 billion paid improperly nationwide
USDA’s newest accuracy count for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program found that 19 states and Washington, D.C. posted payment error rates of 10 percent or higher in fiscal year 2025. Add Guam, and 21 of the 53 SNAP jurisdictions the agency measures cleared that mark. Nationally, the two kinds of mistakes counted together, benefits paid…
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Veterans who prepaid VA life insurance can get a refund for the three-month premium holiday, worth about $330 on average
The Department of Veterans Affairs will exempt more than 457,000 policyholders from three months of Veterans’ Group Life Insurance premiums this winter, and the agency says veterans who already paid those months in advance will not lose the benefit. VA estimates the three-month holiday is worth an average of $330 per policyholder, and it applies…
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Endeavor Health leaves Aetna’s Medicare Advantage network January 1, but Illinois state retirees in the TRAIL plan are spared
Endeavor Health, the Chicago-area hospital system formed from the merger of NorthShore and Edward-Elmhurst, says it will step outside Aetna’s Medicare Advantage network starting Jan. 1, 2027. The change reaches patients who use an Aetna Medicare Advantage plan at Endeavor’s hospitals and clinics, though two groups keep their in-network access. Illinois state retirees enrolled in…