A Supplemental Security Income recipient who takes a job can lose the cash payment and still keep Medicaid, up to a limit that depends on the state. In 2026 that limit is $84,208 in Minnesota and $40,026 in Alabama, the lowest of any state, according to the Social Security Administration’s table of Section 1619(b) thresholds.…

Five states have SNAP food restrictions on the books that reach only what goes in a cup, not what goes in a candy dish. Utah, Ohio, Virginia, Wyoming and Hawaii each restrict beverages under waivers the U.S. Department of Agriculture lists, and none of the five lists candy. Only Utah’s limit has started, and the…

A zero-calorie label does not exempt a can from Florida’s food stamp rules. The state’s Healthy SNAP definition of soda covers carbonated water sweetened with artificial sweeteners as well as sugar, and the Florida Department of Children and Families names Diet Coke as an example. Energy drinks are barred too, while Gatorade still qualifies. Diet…

On an Arkansas grocery shelf, the percentage printed on a juice carton now matters to a SNAP card. The state’s food restriction waiver, in force since July 1, 2026, bars low-calorie and no-calorie soda along with fruit and vegetable drinks that contain less than 50% natural juice. Candy and other “unhealthy” drinks are on the…

About one in every 30 people who receive money from the Social Security Administration gets two checks from it. The agency’s August 2026 statistical snapshot counts 75.88 million people on Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or both, and 2.516 million of them, or about 2.5 million, collect both. The overlap is a mix of…

Two states, two sets of 60 days. Virginia’s Department of Social Services says an old SNAP card deactivates 60 days after the new card is mailed, whether or not the household has activated the replacement. New Jersey’s cards expire 60 days after new ones are issued. The counting starts at a different moment in each…

Indiana will ask Medicaid members to prove their work hours four times a year, and Illinois will ask twice. Beginning January 1, 2027, the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) checks hours every three months, while Illinois verifies every six. Both states are applying the work rule in the 2025 federal law that President Donald Trump signed,…

Two snack boxes can share a shelf in a Florida supermarket and land on opposite sides of a SNAP rule. Under the state’s Healthy SNAP program, Oreos, Chips Ahoy! and Twinkies are barred from food stamp purchases, while Pop-Tarts and granola bars stay eligible. The line follows a definition the Florida Department of Children and…

A Maryland household that still swipes the old magnetic-stripe EBT card at the register faces a hard stop on Wednesday. The state’s Department of Human Services says magnetic-stripe cards will stop working on September 30, 2026, and only an activated chip-and-tap card keeps food benefits usable after that. What Maryland DHS says happens at the…

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says a Medicaid enrollee dropped for missing the new 80-hour-a-month work-and-service requirement is not shut out for a set stretch. The agency’s interim final rule states that anyone denied or disenrolled for falling short on hours may reapply immediately, with no waiting period attached to the lapse. That…