Category: Benefits & Retirement
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Every NewYork-Presbyterian hospital leaves UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage network October 1, though patients in treatment keep coverage into December
New Yorkers covered by a UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plan have spent much of 2026 watching a contract fight between their insurer and one of the region’s largest hospital systems play out one deadline at a time. The latest extension pushes the cutoff to September 30, with a new one taking its place on October 1…
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The federal government wants states to cover 75 percent of what it costs to run SNAP
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Administration wants to cut in half the federal share of what it costs states to run the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Right now Washington reimburses state agencies for 50 percent of their SNAP administrative costs — the eligibility workers who process applications, the computer systems behind them, the cards issued to…
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More than four million people have already lost SNAP since last July
Food stamp enrollment has been falling for ten straight months, and the government’s own newest numbers show the decline is bigger than the four-million figure that has circulated since early August. Every household that lost coverage lost it for one of a small number of specific reasons, each one written into a single federal law…
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SNAP benefit amounts reset October 1, and next year’s numbers are still unpublished
Every October 1, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program resets its maximum benefit amounts for the new federal fiscal year, and this year’s reset falls a little more than a month from now. The formula behind that reset is fixed by law and runs on a Thrifty Food Plan calculation the U.S. Department of Agriculture completes…
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Humana is dropping mostly its lowest-rated Medicare Advantage plans, its finance chief says
Humana’s chief financial officer told investors on July 29 that most of the health insurer’s 2027 Medicare Advantage plan exits will land on its lowest-scoring coverage, plans already sitting at 3.5 stars or below in the government’s current quality ratings. The company expects the cuts to touch roughly 600,000 members, with about 40 percent likely…
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The IRS lets savers aged 60 to 63 add $11,250 extra to a 401(k) this year
Workers who turn 60, 61, 62 or 63 at any point in 2026 can set aside far more of their pay in a 401(k) or similar workplace plan than any other age group saving through payroll deductions this year. The Internal Revenue Service confirmed the exact 2026 numbers in Notice 2025-67: employees in that four-year…
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Medicaid work rules start January 1, and the countable months begin in November
A federal work requirement for Medicaid is no longer a proposal moving through Washington; it is a rule with a countdown attached, and the countdown does not start on the day the requirement itself takes effect. Anyone applying for coverage in Medicaid’s expansion group after January 1, 2027 will need to show a state proof…
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Social Security’s disability backlog has fallen to 884,000 cases from about 1.3 million
Social Security’s own performance data show a genuine improvement in how fast the agency decides a first disability claim, even as a second, less visible queue behind it keeps growing. The agency’s August 14 anniversary release credited a redesigned claims process with cutting the initial disability claims backlog by more than 30 percent, from a…
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Retirees who wait until 70 can draw $5,181 a month from Social Security
The Social Security Administration says a worker who waits until age 70 to start retirement benefits in 2026 can receive as much as $5,181 a month, the highest of the three age-based maximums the agency publishes every year. That figure sits well above the $4,152 maximum for someone who claims at full retirement age and…
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Fairview hospitals stop scheduling UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage patients on January 1
Fairview Health Services will stop scheduling non-emergency appointments for patients enrolled in UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans starting January 1, 2027, the Minneapolis-based health system confirms on its own patient-notice page. The change reaches every M Health Fairview hospital and clinic across the Twin Cities metro area, plus Fairview Range in Hibbing and Grand Itasca Clinic…
