Main Street Dollars

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Retirees who have already started collecting Social Security can pause their checks once they reach full retirement age and earn a bigger benefit later. The pause is open to anyone who has reached full retirement age but is not yet 70. During it, the Social Security Administration (SSA) adds delayed retirement credits for each month…

Wisconsin FoodShare households get 10 days to request replacement food benefits after outages

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Wisconsin FoodShare members who lose groceries to a power outage or storm have 10 days to ask the state for replacement benefits. The clock starts on the day the food was lost, not the day the household finds out how the process works. The state Department of Health Services posted the reminder on Oct. 1,…

SNAP time-limit waivers for five Oregon tribal areas, including Klamath and Siletz, expire Dec. 31

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SNAP time-limit waivers for five tribal areas in Oregon, including the Klamath and Siletz reservations, run out on December 31, 2026. After that date, the program’s work rule can start counting against adults who live there, unless they are exempt or the waiver is extended. The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the waivers in a…

Social Security will figure benefits for workers turning 62 in 2027 on new bend points of $1,340 and $8,077, up from $1,286 and $7,749 this year

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Workers who turn 62 in 2027 will have their Social Security benefit figured on higher bend points. The two dollar thresholds in the formula rise to $1,340 and $8,077, up from $1,286 and $7,749 for people who turn 62 this year. The change sets how much of a worker’s lifetime earnings is counted at each…

Social Security caps a spouse’s benefit at half of what the worker would get at full retirement age, and claiming before full retirement age reduces that share

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The most a spouse can collect from Social Security is half of the worker’s benefit at full retirement age. A spouse who claims before reaching that age of their own gets a smaller share of the half, and the cut grows with every month of waiting skipped. The Social Security Administration’s retirement age and benefit…

A child of a retired or disabled worker can get up to half of the parent’s full Social Security benefit, subject to a family maximum

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Social Security pays benefits to the children of retired or disabled workers, and the most a child can receive is half of the parent’s full benefit. A family limit can lower that amount when several people collect on one worker’s record. For a grandparent or parent on Social Security with kids at home, the child…

Social Security gives beneficiaries 60 days after receiving a notice to request reconsideration

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Social Security gives people 60 days after they receive a decision letter to ask for a second look, a step the agency calls reconsideration. Miss that window and the original decision usually stands, whether it denied a disability claim, cut a payment or set an overpayment. The Social Security Administration says the request has to…

Pennsylvania cuts retroactive Medicaid coverage for expansion adults 19 to 64 to one month, down from up to three, starting Jan. 1, 2027 under Trump’s 2025 law

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Starting Jan. 1, 2027, Pennsylvania Medicaid will pay for medical bills going back just one month before the month of application for adults 19 to 64 on the Medicaid expansion. Up to now, retroactive coverage could reach back up to three months. Everyone else who applies will get two months, instead of up to three.…

SNAP adults who earn at least $217.50 a week or already work 30 hours are exempt from the 80-hours-a-month work rule, Colorado’s human services department says

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Colorado SNAP recipients who earn at least $217.50 a week, or who already work 30 hours or more a week, are exempt from the program’s work rule for able-bodied adults without dependents. The state’s Department of Human Services lists that exemption on its ABAWD page, which stands for able-bodied adults without dependents. The rule it…

An estimated 562,000 CalFresh recipients will lose food aid under the federal work rule, roughly 47,000 a month from October, Assemblymember Alex Lee’s office says

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