Government & Policy
Legislation, executive orders, regulatory changes, and government actions that directly impact personal finances, taxes, benefits, or the economy.
Latest in Government & Policy
Enrolling in a marketplace plan after December 15 pushes coverage back to February 1
December 15 is not the last day to sign up for 2027 marketplace coverage. It is the last day to enroll or change plans for...
Open enrollment for 2027 marketplace coverage still runs to January 15 after a court threw out a shorter window
HealthCare.gov is still showing a full November 1 through January 15 enrollment period for 2027 marketplace coverage, even though a federal rule had been set...
Marketplace plans can no longer count routine adult dental work as an essential health benefit in 2027
The federal rules governing 2027 Marketplace coverage draw a sharper line around adult dental care. Routine non-pediatric dental services can no longer be counted as...
Food stamp spending is running about $1 billion a month below a year ago
Food-stamp benefit issuance in June 2026 was just under $6.8 billion, according to the latest national table from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In June...
Food stamp enrollment fell to 36.3 million in June, down 4.3 million since October
National SNAP participation stood at 36,352,716 people in June 2026, according to the latest monthly table from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That is 4,318,878...
A food stamp household’s non-excluded vehicle counts as a resource above $4,650
A car is not automatically treated the same way in every SNAP resource calculation. USDA’s rule begins with whether the vehicle is excluded; only a...
The $35 floor on the food stamp medical deduction holds steady in October while every deduction around it rises
October’s annual SNAP adjustments raise several familiar figures, including the standard deduction and the cap on excess shelter costs. One number does not move: the...
Third-party energy assistance stops counting as income, but only for a household with an elderly or disabled member
A change in the 2025 spending law separates food-stamp households into two groups when outside help pays an energy bill. For a household that includes...
States generally start paying a share of food stamp benefits in October 2027
A provision in the 2025 tax and spending law is about to change who pays for food stamp benefits, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture...
Food stamps added a work-rule exception for an Indian, Urban Indian and California Indian
The Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service told state SNAP agencies on October 3, 2025, that Section 10102 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act...
The food stamp parent exemption now ends when the youngest child turns 14
Section 10102 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Public Law 119-21, narrowed a caregiving exception inside the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s toughest work rule....
The most a healthy spouse can be allotted from a nursing home resident’s income is $4,066.50 a month
Federal regulators have set the ceiling on how much of a nursing home resident’s income a spouse still living at home can be allotted at...
A Medicaid enrollee dropped for missing the work rule can reapply at any time
Nothing in CMS’s new Medicaid work rule keeps a disenrolled adult from filing a new application the same day coverage ends. The interim final rule...
States may excuse the Medicaid work rule in counties where unemployment reaches 8 percent or 1.5 times the national rate
A single sentence buried inside a federal fact sheet decides whether a hospital stay, a disaster declaration, or a weak local job market can pause...
A state must give ten days notice and a hearing right before it shortens someone’s Medicaid coverage
Federal Medicaid regulation sets a hard floor: a state cannot cut short someone’s coverage period without written notice at least ten days beforehand, plus the...
Forty-three states and the District of Columbia have to run the Medicaid work rule by January 1, and the territories do not
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued an interim final rule on June 1, 2026, requiring most states to condition Medicaid eligibility on 80...
The food stamp change-reporting threshold rises 20 percent to $150 on October 1 for households assigned to report
The dollar threshold that forces some Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program households to report a rise or fall in income is climbing 20 percent, from $125...
A food stamp household with an elderly or disabled member can deduct every dollar of shelter cost above half its income
The federal government caps how much shelter expense a food stamp household can subtract from its income before benefits are calculated — except for one...
Medicaid cuts expansion adults to one month of retroactive coverage for any application filed from January 1
A single footnote inside a routine guidance letter to state Medicaid directors is about to reset what happens to a hospital bill filed too late....
The government is funded only to December 11, and winter heating aid has no appropriation yet
Congress has funded the federal government only through December 11, and the winter heating-assistance program that helps millions of older Americans pay their gas, electric...