Main Street Dollars

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A letter announcing that a Medicare Advantage insurer is dropping a plan for next year does not run on the same clock as the ordinary fall sales pitch. Enrollees who only track the October 15 to December 7 sign-up window can assume that date is the hard stop for every coverage decision. Federal rules set…

Social Security paid about $1 billion in SSI to people who were not eligible, and $664 million can never be recovered

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in Social Security

What happens when a field office lets an earnings alert sit unopened took sixteen months to trace, and the answer now carries a price tag. Auditors at the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General pulled 100 recipients at random from a pool of more than 417,000 people whose alerts were still pending, then…

A new Medicare program sets a $50 monthly copayment for certain weight-loss drugs in 2027

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in Medicare

Medicare’s drug benefit does not usually charge every enrollee the same flat rate for a prescription, regardless of income. One temporary federal arrangement does exactly that for a narrow group of weight-loss prescriptions, and the government’s own account of upcoming coverage changes confirms the rate is staying in place. The arrangement did not begin as…

Social Security can withhold a survivor’s death payment to settle a dead relative’s overpayment

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in Social Security

The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General spent more than a year combing agency files on beneficiaries who died still owing money, and singled out one category of case that slipped past review more than any other: survivors who kept a payment the agency was supposed to hold back. The audit lays out…

A watchdog says the IRS held every refund it could on returns with no bank details, mailing 4.2 million notices

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in Refunds

The Internal Revenue Service sat on refund money longer than it had to during the 2026 filing season, and a federal watchdog says that delay was deliberate. A new report describes an agency that used every day the rules allowed rather than releasing refunds to taxpayers who had not supplied a bank account for direct…

The FTC says a car’s advertised price must be what anyone can walk in and pay

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in Consumer Rights

Federal regulators moved this month to spell out, in plain terms, what an advertised car price is supposed to mean. On September 15, 2026, staff at the Federal Trade Commission published a set of frequently asked questions telling the auto industry exactly which costs belong in the sticker price and which ones a dealer can…

The FTC is pushing withheld tips into Amazon Flex drivers’ bank accounts by Zelle

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in Settlements & Claims

Amazon Flex drivers who never cashed a settlement check from a federal tip-withholding case are now getting that money a different way. The Federal Trade Commission has started depositing payments directly into recipients’ bank accounts through Zelle, closing out a refund program that began with paper checks in 2021. The change affects drivers whose tips…

Melissa and Doug offers $30 by check or $40 in store credit for a recalled fire truck toy

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in Recalls

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted a new recall notice for Melissa & Doug, covering a battery-powered activity board sold only at Target, after the toy’s plastic hose connector was found to separate from its base and pose a choking hazard to young children. Roughly 84,000 units are covered, and the manufacturer has…

195,000 heated blankets are recalled for a full refund weeks before the heating season

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in Recalls

About 195,000 heated blankets and heating pads sold under the JKMAX brand are being recalled after the manufacturer reported hundreds of units smoking, melting or burning. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the internal wire heating elements can overheat, and the fix on offer is not a repair or a coupon but a full…

The FTC says Amway recruits were told they could earn $40,000 a year and about 1 percent did

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