Author: Elizabeth Blessing
-
Medicare drug plans can owe a fast coverage decision within 24 hours
A Medicare drug plan sometimes has only 24 hours to decide whether it will cover a prescription or grant an exception. That expedited clock applies when the plan or prescriber determines that waiting for the ordinary 72-hour decision could seriously jeopardize life, health or the ability to regain maximum function. It is a pre-purchase coverage…
-
A denied Original Medicare claim can still be appealed within 120 days
A denial on a Medicare Summary Notice is an initial payment decision, not necessarily the last word on a medical bill. A person with Original Medicare generally has 120 days from receiving that determination to request the first appeal, called a redetermination. The exact deadline printed on the notice controls, and a late filing may…
-
Bank statements and old photos can help prove a disaster loss when receipts are gone
A flood, wildfire or tornado can destroy the receipts needed to document the property it destroyed. The IRS says a missing paper trail does not end the process: bank and card statements, photographs, videos, contractor records and county files can rebuild it. The same evidence may matter for a tax return, federal assistance application or…
-
Self-employed filers who expect to owe $1,000 face a September 15 tax deadline
September 15 is the third estimated-tax deadline for the 2026 tax year, and self-employed people are among the filers most likely to need it. The familiar $1,000 figure is only the first part of the test. A filer generally must also expect withholding and refundable credits to fall below the applicable current-year or prior-year safe-harbor…
-
Operation No Doze now spans 160 defendants and $245 million in alleged COVID-loan fraud
A national COVID-loan enforcement surge has reached more than 160 defendants and approximately $245 million in alleged intended losses to taxpayers. The Justice Department describes Operation No Doze as a coordinated summer effort involving 44 U.S. Attorney’s Offices and 20 federal and state investigative agencies. The total combines people at different stages of the criminal…
-
Boarding-home operators allegedly diverted $156,000 from an elderly resident’s home sale
A home sale that should have preserved an older resident’s largest asset instead became the center of a federal fraud indictment in North Texas. Prosecutors allege operators of unlicensed boarding homes routed more than $156,000 from a 79-year-old woman’s property through family-controlled accounts. No defendant has been convicted in the case, and every charge remains…
-
Great Value’s frozen-berry recall now reaches 26 states and Puerto Rico, with refunds available
A freezer item sold under Walmart’s Great Value label is now part of an active recall spanning 26 states and Puerto Rico. The recall covers one precisely identified lot of 10-ounce Organic Triple Berry Blend, not every Great Value frozen-berry product. The financial remedy is straightforward: the affected bag can be discarded or returned to…
-
Abbott will pay nearly $385 million over formula bought through WIC and Medicaid
A nearly $385 million civil settlement puts a household-name infant-formula maker at the center of a federal spending case involving products bought through WIC, Medicaid and other government programs. The money will go to federal and state governments, not directly to shoppers. The distinction matters because the agreement resolves allegations about taxpayer-funded purchases without creating…
-
Homeland Security says elder fraud cost more than a million older Americans about $2 billion last year
Elder fraud cost more than a million older Americans about $2 billion in 2025 alone, according to a Homeland Security Investigations official quoted in a federal indictment announcement out of Seattle. The estimate came attached to a specific case: five men accused of laundering more than $7.4 million in stolen funds taken from at least…
-
Settlement checks mailed August 31 become worthless on November 30
A round of settlement checks tied to a 2022 corporate data breach went into the mail on August 31, 2026, and for anyone who has not yet deposited theirs, the clock is now running. The administrator overseeing the payout says any check still sitting uncashed after Monday, November 30, 2026 becomes void, turning real money…