Category: Benefits & Retirement
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Food stamps end at the next recertification for North Carolina refugees, asylees and most parolees under Trump’s 2025 law, in effect there since February 1, the state says
North Carolina households that include a refugee, an asylee or most parolees are losing food stamps, the benefit officially called SNAP, one recertification at a time. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services says the change took effect February 1, 2026 under a federal law passed in 2025, and that affected households keep…
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Medicaid work rules from Trump’s 2025 law reach expansion adults in 44 states including D.C. on January 1, and 34 states plan to recheck compliance every six months, KFF found
Medicaid work requirements from President Trump’s 2025 law start January 1, 2027, and KFF counts 44 states, including the District of Columbia, that must apply them to adults covered through the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. A separate KFF survey, taken in the first three months of 2026, found that 34 states plan to verify…
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CHRISTUS Medicare Advantage members who miss the December 7 deadline can still switch until February 28, but Plus and Complete enrollees lose drug coverage after December 31 unless they join a new Medicare Advantage plan by then
CHRISTUS Health Plan is ending its Medicare Advantage plans on December 31, 2026, and members have until December 7 to pick new coverage that starts January 1. Anyone who misses that date gets a second window, a special enrollment period that runs December 8, 2026 through February 28, 2027. For members of the Plus and…
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Food stamp shoppers in Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia can still buy soda with SNAP, and candy in Iowa and Tennessee, after a June court ruling set aside their bans, USDA shows
Four states that planned to stop SNAP shoppers from buying soda and other sweets are not enforcing those bans, because a federal judge threw out the approvals behind them. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s table of food restriction waivers shows Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia as court-blocked, and the page was last updated October…
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Social Security recipients paid on the 3rd get their first raised check of 2027 early, on Thursday, December 31, the same day SSI’s January payment arrives
Social Security beneficiaries who are paid on the 3rd of the month will receive their January 2027 payment early, on Thursday, December 31, 2026. It is the first check with the 3.6 percent cost-of-living increase built in, and it lands the same day as January’s Supplemental Security Income payment. A holiday and a weekend are…
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Veterans’ disability claim form should shrink from 15 pages to 5 by December 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs wants to cut the main application for disability benefits from 15 pages to 5. The shorter version of VA Form 21-526EZ is projected to be available for use by December 2026, VA says, but it is a proposal for now, and the 15-page form is the one on file today.…
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Social Security offices in Hoboken, Canarsie, Logan and Cody are phone-only until further notice
Social Security field offices in Hoboken, New Jersey; Canarsie, New York; Logan, West Virginia; and Cody, Wyoming are open by phone only, with no in-person service, until further notice. The agency’s office closings page lists each one with that wording and gives no reopening date. Three more offices carry the same notice: Corning and West…
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Veterans’ December 1 disability raise has sat since a June 30 subcommittee vote
A bill that would raise veterans’ disability compensation on December 1, 2026 has not moved since a House subcommittee sent it to the full committee on June 30. H.R. 8552, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2026, is not law, and the December payment increase it describes depends on Congress finishing the job. Bill…
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Food stamp cards in New York, about two million of them, will be replaced with chip cards starting in early 2027 to guard against skimming, the governor’s office says
About two million New York food stamp cards will be replaced with chip cards beginning in the first quarter of 2027, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office says. The goal is to stop skimming, the theft method in which devices capture a card’s information and PIN so thieves can drain benefits before the recipient spends them. The…
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Pennsylvania Medicaid enrollees ages 19 to 64 may get automated calls from 877-839-4782 about work rules that start with January 2027 applications, the state says
Pennsylvania Medicaid recipients between 19 and 64 may be getting automated phone calls from 877-839-4782, and the state has named that number as its own. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) is using calls, text messages and letters to warn about a federal work requirement that starts for Medicaid applications received in January 2027.…