Category: Benefits & Retirement
-
Dropping 11 quality measures from Medicare’s ratings is projected to add $18.6 billion in plan spending
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has finalized a rule that strips 11 measures out of the scoring system used to rate Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans on quality. The agency says the measures it dropped were focused on administrative processes and areas where nearly every plan already scores about…
-
The VA says it negotiated $10.44 billion off drug prices this year
The Department of Veterans Affairs says it negotiated $10.44 billion off the price of prescription drugs so far in fiscal year 2026, the largest total the agency says it has recorded for a single year. VA Secretary Doug Collins tied the number to tougher negotiating with drug manufacturers, saying the department is delivering what he…
-
Nine more drugmakers agreed to give every state Medicaid program most-favored-nation prices
Nine more pharmaceutical companies have agreed to sell their products to state Medicaid programs at “most-favored-nation” prices, the discounted rates that other wealthy countries already pay. The White House announced the deals on August 31, bringing the total number of manufacturers in the program to 26. For a household that depends on Medicaid to cover…
-
Supplemental Security Income still cuts off at $2,000 in savings, while the monthly payment rose to $994
The Social Security Administration’s 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment fact sheet confirms that the maximum federal Supplemental Security Income payment climbed to $994 a month for an individual, up from $967 in 2025, and to $1,491 for a couple. The raise comes from a 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment applied across Social Security and SSI alike. But the…
-
Medicare hospital coverage costs $311 or $565 a month for anyone short of 40 work credits
Most people never see a bill for Medicare’s hospital coverage. Decades of payroll taxes already paid for it by the time they turn 65. But for anyone who spent large stretches of a working life outside covered employment, Medicare Part A now comes with a real monthly charge, and the amount depends entirely on a…
-
Original Medicare sets no yearly ceiling on what a patient pays, and hospital coverage stops entirely after day 150
Original Medicare has no yearly ceiling on what a patient pays out of pocket, and for someone facing a long hospital stay, the bill does not level off with time in the bed — it climbs in stages. A short admission can cost far less than a marathon one, and past a certain point, Original…
-
The food stamp shelter deduction cap rises to $769 and the standard deduction to $217 on October 1
Almost all the attention on the coming food-stamp update goes to the maximum amount a household can receive. Two deduction figures are rising alongside it: the cap on how much high housing costs can shrink a household’s countable income, and the flat standard deduction applied to every SNAP case. Those numbers rarely make headlines, but…
-
Medicare’s switching window opens October 15 and closes December 7
People on Medicare get one set window each fall to rework their coverage for the year ahead, and a plan chosen once and left alone can quietly turn expensive if premiums rise or a pharmacy drops out of the network. This year’s window opens October 15 and runs through December 7, and the choice made…
-
Hawaii is the only place where the food stamp maximum falls on October 1, dropping to $1,655 for a family of four
Hawaii is about to become the only place in the country where the maximum food-stamp benefit gets smaller rather than larger. Starting October 1, 2026, the maximum SNAP allotment rises in the 48 contiguous states, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Hawaii is the lone exception: the ceiling for a…
-
Medicare’s 2027 base drug-plan premium is $41.33 only because a legal cap blocked $94.06
Medicare’s Part D base beneficiary premium for 2027 will be $41.33, according to the annual bid announcement the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released July 28, 2026. That figure matters less for what it is than for what it replaced: the same statutory formula that produced $41.33 also produced a second, higher result —…
