The number of Americans receiving food assistance through the federal government fell sharply over the past year, according to new participation data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dropped by more than five and a half million people between May 2025 and May 2026, one of the…

When the Department of Veterans Affairs decides to reduce a veteran’s monthly disability check, federal regulation requires that the veteran get a warning first, with real time to respond before the money changes. A government watchdog review just found that guarantee failing far more often than it should. Looking at cases closed in 2024, investigators…

Card skimming has not stopped, but the federal program that once reimbursed food stamp households for benefits stolen this way has. For nearly two years now, anyone whose SNAP card gets skimmed or cloned has had no guaranteed way to get that money back from the government, and nothing currently on the public record would…

Nine categories of people will never have to prove they worked, trained or volunteered a single hour to keep Medicaid, once the program’s new community-engagement requirement takes hold. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services carved them out entirely in the interim final rule it issued June 1, 2026 — a permanent exemption, not a…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken its fight over food stamp restrictions on soda and candy to a federal appeals court, roughly three months after a district judge vacated the program in five states. The appeal doesn’t change what SNAP shoppers can buy anywhere today, but it does keep the underlying legal question —…

Turning 14 used to have no bearing on a parent’s food stamp eligibility. Now it marks the exact birthday when a parent who is otherwise required to work can lose the exemption that used to keep them off the three-month SNAP time limit. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act narrowed the exception for a parent…

Starting January 1, 2027, most states running Medicaid will have to verify that certain adult enrollees are working, training, volunteering, or otherwise staying active for a set number of hours each month before they can keep their coverage. The requirement comes from an interim final rule the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued on…

Veterans and people experiencing homelessness no longer get an automatic pass from the SNAP work-and-time-limit rule that used to protect them by name. A 2023 law had carved out specific exceptions for veterans, homeless individuals, and young adults aging out of foster care, keeping them off the three-month food stamp clock regardless of employment status.…

A person shopping for ACA coverage in California and a person doing the same thing in Texas can land on two different systems without ever realizing it: one run by their own state government, one run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services through the federal HealthCare.gov platform. That split, mostly invisible to enrollees…

Ohio grocery and convenience stores spent the summer getting ready to reject certain sugary drinks from food-stamp purchases starting October 1. That rule is now paused, not because Ohio changed course, but because the federal agency that runs the program asked the state to hold off. For households on SNAP, the drinks that were about…