Government & Policy
Legislation, executive orders, regulatory changes, and government actions that directly impact personal finances, taxes, benefits, or the economy.
Latest in Government & Policy
The VA locked in $10.4 billion in drug-price cuts for veterans
A veteran filling a 30-day prescription at a VA pharmacy pays a flat copay — as little as $5, capped at $700 total for the...
Lapsed Obamacare subsidies could push 2027 benchmark premiums about 8% higher
Millions of Americans who buy their own health coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace are bracing for a second straight year of steep premium...
Medicaid work-rule notices are landing now; the mandate starts January 1
States that plan to enforce Medicaid’s new work requirement starting January 1 faced a legal deadline of their own this summer: mail every affected enrollee...
SNAP’s three-year work-rule clock closes September 30, putting food aid at risk for anyone who fell short since March
For adults classified as able-bodied without dependents, known in SNAP shorthand as ABAWDs, food assistance pays out for only three months in any 36-month stretch...
The new Medicaid work rule lets a $580-a-month income record stand in for 80 work hours, and Nebraska is already enforcing it
Nebraska began enforcing Medicaid’s new work requirement on May 1, more than eight months before every other state faces the same federal deadline, and its...
Trump’s TrumpRx plan will sell a Wegovy weight-loss pill for about $149 a month, far below the $1,000-plus injectables once cost
A new federal drug marketplace launched by the Trump administration is now selling an oral version of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy for about $149...
The VA is taking about 78 days on average to finish a disability claim
The Veterans Benefits Administration is now completing an average disability compensation decision in about 78 days, according to the agency’s own performance data released this...
Veterans’ disability pay rose 2.8% for 2026, the same raise Social Security recipients received
Two federal agencies applied the exact same 2.8 percent adjustment to benefit checks for 2026, but the number lands very differently depending on which program...
About 600,000 households are getting smaller food-stamp benefits because of a change in how utility bills are counted
The federal government has changed the formula many states use to calculate part of a household’s monthly food-stamp benefit, and the shift is expected to...
Seventeen drugmakers covering about 86% of the branded market have agreed to match the lowest prices paid abroad
Seventeen pharmaceutical manufacturers covering about 86 percent of the branded drug market have signed the Trump administration’s most-favored-nation pricing agreements, but the framework splits into...
More than 209,000 American workers have been laid off this year, already past all of last year, with half the cuts blamed on AI
Employers tracked nationwide had already eliminated 209,032 jobs through August 28, across 365 separate layoff events — a total that exceeds the 205,773 workers cut...
A Labor Department rule driven by a Trump executive order would let 401(k) plans hold crypto, private equity and real estate
The Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration published a 57-page proposed rule on March 30, 2026, and its central move is not a mandate but...
The White House is floating an end to capital-gains tax on home sales, but only Congress can change the $250,000 and $500,000 exclusions
Nearly 13 million homeowners would owe capital-gains tax if they sold their primary residence today, NAR estimates, because the $250,000 and $500,000 exclusion limits written...
A shutdown would still stop Medicare card replacements and Social Security proof-of-income letters
Twice already in 2026, a lapse in federal funding froze routine but essential paperwork at Social Security Administration field offices, including proof-of-income letters, earnings-record corrections,...
Federal funding runs out September 30, but Social Security and Medicare payments keep going because they sit outside the annual budget
Current federal appropriations expire at midnight on September 30, the last day of fiscal year 2026, setting up a fourth possible funding lapse in a...
Linda Sánchez’s bill would phase out the $184,500 Social Security payroll tax cap by 2032 and raise checks for lower earners
Rep. Linda Sánchez’s Strengthening Social Security Act of 2026, filed June 11 with six Democratic co-sponsors, would erase the $184,500 ceiling that currently shields the...
The bipartisan PROMISE Act would put a Social Security rescue plan on a fast track, with recommendations due September 14
Eight senators introduced legislation on July 14 that would force Congress to hold an actual vote on a Social Security solvency package before the program’s...
A 13-member commission proposed by Tom Cole and Tom Suozzi would get one year to make Social Security solvent for 75 years
Thirteen people — eight picked by party leaders in the House and Senate, four chosen by the top Republicans and Democrats on the tax-writing committees,...
Trump’s drug-pricing platform says it has saved patients $700 million, and weight-loss shots that once ran past $1,000 a month now start at $149
Prescription drug prices fell 3.1 percent over the twelve months ending in July 2026, the steepest annual drop the Bureau of Labor Statistics has recorded...
Six insurers are leaving the Obamacare marketplace for 2027, forcing about 650,000 people across a third of states to find new coverage
Six health insurers have confirmed they are leaving the Affordable Care Act marketplace for the 2027 plan year, a wave that will force roughly 650,000...