Federal employees who run a health care flexible spending account will have a new way to pay for it starting with the 2027 plan year. The Office of Personnel Management says eligible employees can select a FSAFEDS Visa FSA Card as part of their election, to pay for health care, pharmacy, dental and vision expenses…

Monday, November 2, 2026, is the day the Office of Personnel Management’s rule points to for the payment covering October. OPM does not print that date anywhere. It follows from two things OPM does state, a first-business-day rule and an accrual rule, together with the fact that November 1 falls on a Sunday. The distinction…

The Social Security Administration has put a price tag of $74 on one specific service: manually verifying a Social Security number for a third party. The fee applies to requests SSA receives on or after October 1, 2026, which means it is already in effect as of this article’s October 6 check. The amount comes…

Who has to meet SNAP’s work rules, and who does not? The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s SNAP work requirements page, last updated July 16, 2026, answers with a list of exactly six general exemptions. Food stamp recipients who fall into any of the six are excused from the general work rules, and two of the…

Eighty hours a month is the number that decides whether some SNAP households keep their food benefits past a short initial stretch. USDA’s Food and Nutrition Administration says adults aged 18 to 54 who are able to work and have no dependents must work, volunteer or take part in a work program for at least…

Missouri’s plan to bar candy, prepared desserts and certain unhealthy beverages from food stamp purchases now has a new start line: February 15, 2027. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Administration (FNA) recorded the change in a Federal Register notice published September 15, 2026, nine months after it first approved the state’s request…

Soda is still allowed in Nebraska’s SNAP program, and nothing USDA has published says that will change on December 1. A federal court wiped out the state’s first soda-and-energy-drink waiver on June 22, 2026. Nebraska responded on September 1 with a new request, and USDA’s waiver page, updated October 2, says only “We are working…

Seven groups of adults are excused from SNAP’s three-month time limit, according to the USDA’s page on SNAP work requirements, and the list is shorter and more specific than many summaries suggest. Veterans are on it. So are people experiencing homelessness, and so is any adult whose SNAP household includes someone under 18. The time…

Count the rows in the federal table of SNAP food restriction waivers and the total is 23 states. Take away four whose approvals a federal court vacated, plus Nebraska, which has no live date, and 18 states are left with a standing start date for limits on purchases of items like soda and candy. The…

Social Security’s 2026 SSI payment table lists a separate row for an “essential person,” set at $498 a month, next to the $994 for an eligible individual and the $1,491 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse. The row invites a quick reading that any relative or friend who lives with an SSI recipient…