Government & Policy
Legislation, executive orders, regulatory changes, and government actions that directly impact personal finances, taxes, benefits, or the economy.
Latest in Government & Policy
Trump’s drug deals now cover nearly 90% of the branded market
As of September 18, 2026, the Trump administration counts 26 pharmaceutical manufacturers with signed most-favored-nation pricing agreements, together covering an estimated 89% of the U.S....
The most a family of four can get in food stamps rises about $29 in October
The maximum monthly food-stamp allotment for a family of four in the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., rises to $1,023 on October 1, a...
Obamacare refund checks begin reaching nearly a million people in 30 states who paid full premiums this October
A federal refund program is beginning to reach nearly one million Americans in 30 states this October, according to a White House fact sheet published...
Amazon will add $149 to earlier Prime refunds and pay newer members automatically starting October 1
Amazon will begin sending an extra $149 to consumers who already accepted a payment from the Federal Trade Commission’s Prime settlement, bringing their total to...
Medicaid must recheck millions of adults’ eligibility twice a year starting in 2027
Millions of Medicaid enrollees in the program’s expansion group are about to have their eligibility checked twice as often. A federal policy letter from CMS...
Pregnant women, caregivers and disabled adults stay exempt from Medicaid’s new work requirement
A Medicaid work requirement taking effect no later than January 1, 2027 will not reach every adult in the program’s expansion group. The same interim...
Medicaid’s new 80-hour-a-month work rule reaches adults up to age 64 and lands by January 1
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a rule in June requiring most states to enforce a new Medicaid work requirement no later than...
Food-stamp shoppers in five states can buy soda and candy again after a court tossed the ban
Grocery-store checkout rules for food-stamp shoppers in five states flipped back in June, after a federal judge ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had...
The 2025 law ended food-stamp work exemptions that once protected homeless adults
People experiencing homelessness once had one less hurdle to clear to keep their food assistance: a blanket exemption from SNAP’s work-hour rule that Congress built...
Former foster youth who aged out at 18 lose their food-stamp work exemption under the 2025 law
A safety-net exemption created for one of the most vulnerable groups on food assistance has disappeared under a 2025 law overhauling federal work rules. Young...
TrumpRx now sells discounted drugs like Ozempic directly, mostly to cash and Medicaid buyers
A year after President Trump announced his first pharmaceutical pricing deal in the Oval Office, the discount website built from that push, TrumpRx.gov, is live...
Customs has cleared up to $128.68 billion in tariff refunds, but the money goes to importers, not households
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has accepted roughly $128.68 billion in tariff refund claims for processing since the Supreme Court struck down a set of...
Adults up to age 64 must now work 80 hours a month to keep their food stamps
A federal work rule that used to end at age 54 now reaches all the way to 64. Under a 2025 law that rewrote parts...
CMS is letting small-business workers buy their own coverage through rebranded ICHRA accounts
Federal health officials gave a familiar small-business benefit a new name this month, and with it a fresh push to get more employers using it....
The enhanced Obamacare subsidies that lowered premiums since 2021 have expired, and Congress has not renewed them
The enhanced premium tax credits that had lowered Affordable Care Act marketplace premiums for millions of households since 2021 expired at midnight on December 31,...
About 725,000 people earning just above the subsidy cliff lost Obamacare help for 2026
An estimated 725,000 people who bought Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage in 2025 earned just enough to sit between 400% and 500% of the federal...
Medicaid enrollees must prove their work hours twice a year to keep coverage in 2027
Medicaid enrollees subject to the new work requirement will not wait a full year to prove they still qualify. CMS’s June 2026 rule shifts eligibility...
Medicaid’s new 80-hour-a-month work rule takes effect by January 1 for adults 19 to 64
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a rule in June 2026 spelling out how Medicaid’s new work requirement will operate, with a deadline:...
SNAP now counts a child as a dependent only until age 14, pulling parents of teens under the work rule
A single number buried in H.R. 1’s SNAP provisions is quietly reclassifying parents who thought caregiving alone kept them out of the program’s work requirement....
Veterans and homeless adults lost their automatic exemption from SNAP work rules this year
Three categories of SNAP recipients who never had to prove work hours to keep their food benefits now do. The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed...