Author: Elizabeth Blessing
-
Heating oil averaged $6.14 a gallon in EIA’s latest survey, $2.60 above last year
Households that heat with oil are starting the season at a steep price. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) put the national average for residential heating oil at $6.14 a gallon for the week of October 12, 2026, which is $2.60 higher than a year earlier. The exact figure in EIA’s weekly heating oil survey…
-
Social Security’s watchdog estimates about 1,100 disabled-child beneficiaries were paid incorrectly, with roughly $1.2 million in underpayments
Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General estimates that about 1,100 people approved for child’s insurance benefits were paid incorrectly after their claims were first denied as not disabled. About $1.2 million of the mistakes were underpayments, money that should have reached disabled beneficiaries and did not. The agency’s own watchdog published the findings on…
-
SNAP households that lose food in a power outage or disaster generally must report it within 10 days to ask for replacement benefits
A freezer full of spoiled food after a storm is a hit most SNAP households cannot absorb, and the clock to fix it starts the day the food is lost. Households on SNAP that lose groceries to a power outage or other disaster generally have just 10 days to report the loss if they want…
-
Florida and Alabama Medicare enrollees whose equipment was damaged by Hurricane Isaias can get it replaced under the October 13 health emergency
People with Medicare in Florida and Alabama who lost or damaged medical equipment in Hurricane Isaias can have it replaced. The federal government opened that door when a public health emergency was declared for both states on October 13. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it will permit people with Medicare to receive…
-
IRS volunteers prepared nearly 2.9 million free tax returns this year, and filers earning about $70,244 or less generally qualify
Volunteers at IRS-backed free tax sites helped file nearly 2.9 million returns at no cost in 2026. The IRS says more than 84,500 volunteers did that work at about 9,000 sites around the country. The agency put out that count on October 1 while it recruits volunteers for the next filing season. For households watching…
-
Original Medicare Part B enrollees in randomly chosen areas could pay lower coinsurance on some drugs from April 2027 under Trump’s GLOBE drug-pricing rule
Some people in Original Medicare could pay a smaller share of the bill for certain expensive drugs starting April 1, 2027. The Trump administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finished a new drug-pricing rule called GLOBE on October 2, and it takes effect November 30, 2026. Who benefits depends on where a person…
-
Surviving spouses on VA DIC who cannot leave home because of a disability can get an extra $197.22 a month
Surviving spouses who receive Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, known as DIC, from the Department of Veterans Affairs get a higher monthly payment when a disability keeps them from leaving home. The extra amount is $197.22 a month, added on top of the basic DIC rate. The Department of Veterans Affairs lists the housebound add-on at…
-
Food stamp benefits sitting unused on an EBT card for 274 days are wiped from the account under federal SNAP rules
Food stamp money does not sit on an EBT card forever. Under federal SNAP rules, benefits that go unused for 274 days, about nine months, are permanently removed from the account, and the state cannot put them back. For people who use SNAP only now and then, or who let a balance build for a…
-
Homeowners and renters in six Indiana counties and Cook County, Illinois can apply until December 8 for SBA disaster loans after June storms
People whose homes or belongings were damaged in Indiana’s June storms have until December 8, 2026 to apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The offer covers homeowners and renters in six Indiana counties and in Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago. The U.S. Small Business Administration issued the declaration on…
-
SNAP’s work time limit has no statewide waiver anywhere as of October 1, leaving 41 states and territories with no waived areas
No state has a statewide waiver from SNAP’s work time limit this fall, and most of the country has no waiver at all. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s list of waivers in effect as of October 1, 2026, shows zero statewide waivers, 12 states with waivers that cover only parts of the state, and 41…