Category: Benefits & Retirement
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Social Security lets a widow or widower start survivor benefits as early as 60, or at 50 if they are disabled
Social Security survivor benefits can start well before retirement age for a widow or widower. The earliest start is age 60, or as early as age 50 for a surviving spouse who has a disability. The age is a minimum, and other conditions about the marriage also have to be met. The Social Security Administration’s…
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About 183,000 Philadelphians in Medicaid expansion renew every six months from Jan. 1, 2027, when some adults 19 to 64 must also show 80 hours or $580 a month
About 183,000 Philadelphians are in the Medicaid expansion group, and starting Jan. 1, 2027, those adults will have to renew their coverage every six months instead of once a year. Some adults ages 19 to 64 will also have to show 80 hours a month of work, school, training or volunteering, or household income of…
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Minnesota projects that roughly a third of the almost 18,000 more SNAP adults now facing work rules each month will eventually lose their benefits
Minnesota expects the new federal SNAP work rules to cost some households their food benefits. State projections say almost 18,000 more adults in an average month are now covered by the rules, and roughly a third of them are expected to eventually lose benefits. The rules now reach adults all the way up to age…
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CalFresh recipients in California’s Alpine County lose their SNAP time-limit waiver Oct. 31, while seven counties including Tulare, Merced and Imperial are waived from Nov. 1
CalFresh recipients in Alpine County lose their SNAP time-limit waiver on Oct. 31. Seven other California counties, including Tulare, Merced and Imperial, are covered by a waiver that starts Nov. 1 and runs through Oct. 31, 2027. The California Department of Social Services lists both changes on its CalFresh work rules page. The state’s notice…
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Some Nevada Medicaid adults 19 to 64 must log 80 activity hours or earn $580 monthly from Jan. 1, 2027 under Trump’s 2025 law, and some renew twice a year
Starting January 1, 2027, some Nevada Medicaid members ages 19 through 64 will have to show 80 hours of approved activity each month, or earn at least $580 a month, to keep their coverage. The rule comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, also called H.R. 1, the 2025 law President Donald Trump signed…
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Social Security lets an unmarried divorced spouse 62 or older, married at least 10 years, get up to half of an ex’s full benefit without cutting the ex’s check
A divorced person can collect Social Security on a former spouse’s record, and the former spouse’s own check does not shrink when that happens. The rule applies to someone who is 62 or older, has not remarried and was married to the ex for at least 10 years. The most the divorced spouse can receive…
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Social Security cannot pay benefits for the month a beneficiary dies, so the payment that arrives the following month must be returned
When a Social Security recipient dies, the payment for that month cannot be paid, and the deposit that shows up the next month has to go back. Social Security checks arrive a month behind, so the money landing in the account after a death is often the payment for the month the person died. Families…
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Social Security’s full retirement age is 67 for workers born in 1960 or later, up from 66 and 10 months for those born in 1959
Workers born in 1960 or later cannot collect a full Social Security retirement check until they turn 67, according to the Social Security Administration. For workers born in 1959, that full retirement age is 66 and 10 months, the last step in a schedule that has been creeping upward for years. The figures come from…
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Veterans’ disability and survivor raise due Dec. 1 is still not law, with the Senate bill untouched since May 11 and the House bill stuck in committee since June 30
A cost-of-living raise for veterans with service-connected disabilities, and for the survivors of disabled veterans, is still not law. Two identical bills would make the increase effective Dec. 1, 2026. The Senate version has had no action since it was sent to committee on May 11, and the House version has been stuck in committee…
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Seniors leaving Medicare Advantage for Original Medicare outside a guaranteed-issue window can be refused Medigap, and Original Medicare alone has no yearly cap on costs
Seniors who drop a Medicare Advantage plan for Original Medicare can find the door to Medigap closed. Medicare.gov says there is no federal guarantee that an insurance company will sell a Medigap policy outside a short list of protected situations, and a company can turn down an applicant over health. Original Medicare on its own…