Main Street Dollars

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Losing access to a trusted doctor without warning is one of the more disorienting things that can happen to a Medicare Advantage enrollee, and federal rules exist specifically to prevent it from happening overnight. When a plan cuts a primary care doctor or behavioral health provider from its network, it cannot simply stop covering visits…

Social Security says disability decisions now arrive 40 days faster than in January 2025

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in Social Security

More than eight million Americans currently receive Social Security Disability Insurance, and the agency says the wait to find out whether a new claim is approved has gotten meaningfully shorter. In a blog post marking the program’s 70th anniversary, the Social Security Administration reported that initial disability decisions are now arriving 40 days faster than…

Social Security lets a disabled worker earn $1,210 in a month without spending a trial work month

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in Social Security

A person who receives Social Security disability benefits and wants to try going back to work has a specific number to watch every month in 2026: $1,210. That figure decides whether a working month counts against the nine months SSA allows a beneficiary to test their ability to work without immediately losing benefits. It rose…

Social Security rescinded a 1990 ruling on how below-market rent reduces an SSI check

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in Social Security

A federal notice that ran on August 31, 2026 doesn’t change how any current SSI check is calculated, but it does something federal agencies rarely bother to do out loud: it formally retires a piece of guidance from 1990 that hasn’t matched the actual rule for nearly two years. The notice tells SSA staff and…

Imported goods now carry an effective tariff of 10 percent, down from 15 percent in November

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The tariff rate on the average imported product is lower right now than it has been in months, and almost nobody has noticed, because it dropped as the result of a Supreme Court ruling rather than a tariff cut anyone announced with fanfare. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the country’s effective tariff rate at…

Anyone filing 1099 forms must switch to a new IRS system by November 19

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A quiet back-office deadline is about to affect anyone who has ever issued a 1099 to a contractor, tenant, or freelancer. The IRS is retiring the decades-old FIRE system that has processed most electronically filed information returns, and after November 19 it will no longer accept new filings through that platform at all. The replacement,…

A 100 percent tariff on heavier and thermal-imaging drones takes effect in early September

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Anyone shopping for a drone this fall is about to run into a price jump that has nothing to do with the manufacturer’s list price. Starting September 3, a new federal tariff adds 100 percent to the cost of importing larger drones and any drone equipped with thermal imaging, on top of whatever the retailer…

Tariffs on Canadian liquor, cheese and cars took effect August 22 after a three-day delay

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Shoppers picking up a bottle of Canadian rye or a block of imported cheddar this week are paying more than they were a month ago, and it happened because a three-day negotiating window quietly ran out. A 50 percent duty on Canadian alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motor vehicles took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern…

New tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent now apply to goods from 60 economies

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A tariff schedule that took effect five weeks ago is now the standing rule for how much extra Americans pay at the register on goods from 60 of the country’s trading partners, and it is not going away anytime soon. The Trump administration’s July 23 memorandum sets a two-tier system: a 10 percent tariff for…

Regulators paused enforcement on tobacco surcharges, so employers need not pay the reward retroactively

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