Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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Heating oil homes, mostly in the Northeast, face a 21 percent jump in winter fuel spending, the Energy Department forecasts
Of all the ways American homes heat, oil is the one headed for the sharpest jump this winter. The Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s statistics agency, forecasts that spending on heating oil will rise 21 percent from last winter. Its October 6 Short-Term Energy Outlook says heating oil prices are up more than 30…
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Leslie’s is closing 76 pool supply stores in a prearranged Chapter 11 case
Customers holding a Leslie’s gift card or a Pool Perks account can keep using both, the company says, even as the pool supply chain closes 76 of its more than 900 stores. Leslie’s, Inc. filed for prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 30 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas,…
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Health plans must give members personalized cost estimates by phone and online under rules finalized Oct. 5 for plan years starting on or after Jan. 1, 2027
“People should know what their health insurance will cover and what they will need to pay before receiving medical care, not after the bill arrives.” That is how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services described the goal of new Transparency in Coverage rules in an Oct. 5 announcement. The rules, finalized Oct. 5, require…
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Treasury’s proposed Trump Accounts rules would enroll eligible children automatically through a master group trust, with public comments due Nov. 30
Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service want to create a Trump Account for every eligible child without the parents filling out anything first. The idea is in proposed regulations published in the Federal Register on September 30, and the government is taking public comments on them until November 30. These are proposals, not final rules.…
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Twelve states, including California, New York, Michigan and New Jersey, keep partial waivers of the food stamp work time limit this quarter, and none is statewide
No state has a statewide waiver of the food stamp work time limit this quarter. Twelve states keep partial waivers that cover only certain areas: Alaska, Arizona, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Wisconsin. That is the picture in USDA’s waiver status list for the first quarter of…
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VA decided only about 1.2 million of nearly 2.6 million community care requests for additional services on time between October 2024 and January 2026, its inspector general found
VA decided only about 1.2 million of nearly 2.6 million requests from community care providers for added services on time between October 2024 and January 2026, the VA inspector general found. That is 45 percent. The audit, issued Sept. 24, 2026, measured decisions against VA’s own rule of three business days, and the inspector general’s…
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An IRS hearing scheduled for Oct. 14 would weigh a Trump administration plan to limit refundable child tax credit and EITC money to citizens and qualified aliens
An IRS public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 14, 2026, on a Treasury proposal that would limit the refunded part of the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit and two other credits to U.S. citizens, nationals and qualified aliens. The proposal is not in effect. The notice in the Federal Register, published Aug.…
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Social Security sent policy-compliant notices for just 54 percent of the overpayments reviewed, and many omitted appeal and waiver rights, its inspector general found
Of 126 Social Security overpayments that auditors pulled for review, 68 notices followed the agency’s own rules and 58 did not. That is the 54 percent and 46 percent split in a September 1 report from the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, which looked at the letters SSA sends when it says…
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Social Security’s revised cardiovascular disability listings take effect Oct. 30 and will apply to claims still pending and to continuing disability reviews
Social Security has a date for a new set of heart-disease rules: October 30, 2026. From that day, the agency will judge disability claims for cardiovascular conditions against revised medical listings, including claims that were filed long before and are still waiting for a decision. The rule, “Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Cardiovascular Disorders,” was…
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Vanderbilt Health leaves Aetna’s Medicare Advantage network on Jan. 1, 2027 for individual and group plans, and tells members to review options by Dec. 7
Starting Jan. 1, 2027, Vanderbilt Health will no longer be in the Aetna Medicare Advantage network. Vanderbilt posted the change on its Medicare Advantage information page, and it says the change affects “all Aetna Medicare Advantage members, including both individual and group plans.” The Aetna plans are not ending. What ends is the contract that…