Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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Federal law shields $11,980 of household goods and $5,300 of wages from an IRS levy this year
When someone falls behind on federal taxes and the IRS moves to collect through a wage garnishment or the seizure of belongings, the collection is not unlimited. A set of dollar figures built into the tax code marks off exactly how much of a paycheck, and which possessions, the government has to leave alone. Those…
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The most a 2027 exchange plan can charge one person out of pocket rises to $12,000
Households shopping for an Affordable Care Act marketplace plan for 2027 will face a higher ceiling on what a single illness or injury can cost them out of pocket. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has finalized $12,000 as the most a self-only exchange plan can require an enrollee to pay in deductibles, copays…
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Washington approved a 22 percent health premium increase for 2027 and Oregon 21.6 percent
Health regulators in Washington and Oregon closed out their 2027 rate reviews within weeks of each other, and both landed on increases well above the pace that ordinary household budgets have adjusted to. The decisions apply to people who buy health coverage on their own rather than through an employer, a group that includes early…
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An Ohio hospital system told four Medicare Advantage insurers at once that their contracts end in December
Genesis HealthCare System in Zanesville, Ohio, sent a single notice this month naming four separate insurers at once: Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Medical Mutual of Ohio and CareSource. All four Medicare Advantage contracts, plus a Medicaid managed-care agreement with CareSource, are set to end together unless new terms are reached before January 1, 2027. For any Genesis…
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Ohio State and NewYork-Presbyterian both go out of network with a Medicare Advantage insurer on October 1
Two nationally known hospital systems are on track to leave the same type of insurance network on the same date: October 1. In Columbus, Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center loses in-network status with Humana for people who bought a Medicare Advantage plan on their own rather than through a former employer. In New York, NewYork-Presbyterian…
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Molina wrote off $93 million to leave the Medicare drug business for 2027
Molina Healthcare has confirmed, in its own securities filings, that it booked a $93 million impairment charge for a single decision: leaving its traditional Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plans once the 2027 plan year begins. The company repeated the same exit plan three months later in its second-quarter earnings, when the discontinued drug product was…
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A cancelled Medicare Advantage plan opens 63 days when no insurer can refuse Medigap
Every fall, some Medicare Advantage enrollees learn that their plan is leaving Medicare altogether, pulling out of their county, or otherwise ending the coverage they signed up for. For a retiree relying on that plan to cap out-of-pocket costs, the notice arrives with almost no explanation of what protections follow it. Federal rules attach a…
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Medicare is ending the federal program that held drug plan premiums down, starting with the 2027 plan year
Millions of people enrolled in a stand-alone Medicare drug plan are about to lose a subsidy cushion many never knew was holding their premium down. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has confirmed it will let a two-year support program for those plans expire at the end of 2026, clearing the way for the…
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Social Security announces the 2027 raise on October 14, and the figure does not exist until then
Every January, Social Security’s monthly deposit changes by a specific percentage locked in the previous October. For the raise that takes effect in January 2027, that percentage does not exist yet. Not the Social Security Administration, not the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and not the advocacy groups already publishing forecasts can name the real number,…
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Social Security can pursue an overpayment from a surviving spouse who collects on the same earnings record
Social Security’s own guidance on resolving an overpayment includes a line that catches many families off guard: if a beneficiary dies before finishing repayment, the agency can seek the remaining balance from anyone who receives benefits on that same earnings record. In practice, that often means a widow or widower who starts collecting survivor benefits…