Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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A state must reconsider Medicaid for a person dropped over a missing renewal form if the form arrives within 90 days, with no new application
Medicaid coverage that ends because a renewal form never came back is not necessarily gone for good. Under a federal rule, a state agency has to take a second look at a terminated person’s eligibility if the form arrives within 90 days of the termination date, and it cannot demand a fresh application to do…
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Ohio’s residential utility advocate says Duke Energy Ohio’s gas filing would add more than $24 a month to a typical household bill and push reconnection to $164
Ohio’s Office of the Consumers’ Counsel, the state’s statutory advocate for residential utility customers, says Duke Energy Ohio’s request for higher natural gas rates would cost a typical household more than $24 a month. The same filing would raise the fee to restore service after a shutoff to $164. Nothing has been approved. The proposal…
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Medicare mails a blue reassignment notice in late October or early November to people with Extra Help whose Advantage plan is leaving, and doing nothing moves them to a drug plan
Medicare plans to mail a blue notice, labeled CMS Product No. 11443, in late October or early November to people who get Extra Help with drug costs and whose Medicare Advantage plan is leaving the program. According to the agency’s page on the notice, a person who does nothing is reassigned to a Medicare drug…
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In Social Security’s own 2026 example, someone reaching full retirement age in November who earned $68,520 by October had $1,120 withheld
Workers who start Social Security before full retirement age lose benefits once their earnings pass a yearly limit, and in 2026 that limit is $24,480 for most of them and $65,160 for people who reach full retirement age during the year. Social Security’s own worked example for the higher limit shows what crossing it costs:…
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Javed Ashiq was sentenced to 14 years on October 7 and ordered to repay $886,799.84 to one elderly victim of a wire fraud conspiracy
A federal judge in Augusta, Georgia, has sentenced a 52-year-old Decatur man to 14 years in prison for acting as the gold-and-cash courier in a scheme that left one elderly victim with nothing. Javed Ashiq pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and was sentenced on October 7, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the…
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The federal food aid law keeps paying monthly benefits past December 11 but funds the rest of the program only to that date
Congress wrote a December 11 date into the stopgap spending law, and the date can sound like the day food aid stops. The text says something narrower. The authority to run the Food and Nutrition Act activities that include SNAP is funded only through December 11, 2026, while a separate clause lets monthly benefit payments…
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Amazon’s Prime refunds expire 60 days after the issue date, and the money covers people who signed up through a challenged enrollment flow between June 23, 2019 and June 23, 2025
Every automatic Amazon Prime refund payment carries an expiration date, and the date is set by the day Amazon issues it: 60 days later, the payment lapses. The Federal Trade Commission’s Amazon refund page says the payments go out by mailed check or by PayPal or Venmo, and that Amazon is sending them to customers…
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A SNAP recipient who misses the 80-hour monthly work rule loses benefits after three months and must meet it for a full 30 days or qualify for an exception to get them back
Adults on SNAP who fall under the program’s time limit can keep their food benefits for only three months unless they put in 80 hours of work or a work program each month. The Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service spells out the penalty and the way back on its work requirements page: miss the…
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People living outside the United States were left out of Medicare’s October premium rebate, along with Advantage members and anyone owing an income surcharge
The $90 Medicare Improvement Fund rebate that began reaching bank accounts around October 8 skipped four groups: people who live outside the United States, Medicare Advantage enrollees, people who pay the income-related surcharge on Part B, and people whose premiums Medicaid helps cover. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services spelled out those limits in…
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Wyoming blocks sweetened sodas from SNAP on February 1, Kansas on February 15
Wyoming and Kansas have both won federal approval to stop SNAP shoppers from using benefits on certain drinks and sweets, and the start dates are close together. Wyoming’s restriction on sweetened, carbonated beverages is set for February 1, 2027. Kansas’s ban on candy and soft drinks follows on February 15, 2027. Both dates are targets…