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2019 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced!

Nov 7, 2018

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the changes to Medicare Parts A and B premiums and deductibles for 2019. While 99% of Medicare recipients pay no Part A premiums, inpatient deductibles will increase from $1,364 in 2018 to $1,340...

Questions about Unincurred Business Expenses? Social Security Has the Answers

Oct 24, 2018

Social Security’s Ticket to Work program has been running a highly reader-friendly series on work incentives and recently pointed the spotlight on Unincurred Business Expenses, which is one of the incentives available to self-employed SSDI recipients. You can find...

2019 SSI and SSDI COLAs Announced!

Oct 17, 2018

Social Security has announced the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for 2019 and it's good news as there will be a 2.8% increase in benefits in the new year. This means that the standard SSI Federal Payment for an individual will go from $750 to $771 a month; an SSI...

Cash on The Nail: Emergency Advance Payments (EAP) and Immediate Payments (IP)

Sep 26, 2018

It is somewhat heartening to find that Social Security has recognized that there are times and situations where some people will find themselves utterly without a means to pay for necessary services. To that end the agency has gone some way to provide financial...

Wait For It: SSI and Retrospective Monthly Accounting

Sep 20, 2018

Given the tight space between subsistence and penury in which SSI recipients are often required to exist it is something of a peculiarity of the SSI program that there’s a specific policy that can appear to leave beneficiaries bereft at the very moment they have the...

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SNAP Tackles Pop: States Ban Food Stamp Purchases of Soda and Candy

There have always been restrictions on what you can buy with food stamps, now dubbed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (a godsend to sub-editors everywhere). The simple, if perhaps occasionally dubious, pleasures that alcoholic beverages provide...

2026’s 1619(b) Thresholds Are Out!

Unlike many annual changes in the benefits world, which are announced on a fairly rigid schedule, recent history has shown that we can never quite be sure when the new thresholds for 1619(b) are going to be announced. Fortunately, this year there hasn’t been much of a...

Health Check: Changes to Medicaid in Maryland

The new year is an obvious time to make changes if that’s what you’re going to do and it might seem that if things are going to be different for Medicaid beneficiaries now would be the time to learn what’s new. Oddly enough, even though there are changes afoot,...

What’s New? Update on 2026 Benefits Changes

Now that we have to admit that the holidays are truly over and we're embedded in the new year, for better or for worse, it's worth having a quick look over the new annual figures that will affect those of us who receive federal benefits. By now everyone who receives...

Happy Holidays from MDBCN to You!

Another year comes to another close and although we can hardly look back on 12 months of love, peace, and harmony we can always hope for that in the future. Whatever may come to pass, we at the Maryland Benefits Counseling Network will continue to endeavor to keep you...

Getting Better: ABLE Changes for 2026

Back in 2022 Congress passed a bill that is about to go into effect. The ABLE Age Adjustment Act decreed that as of January 2026 the age threshold for Achieving Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts would increase from 26 to 46. The ABLE Act has been around for more...

A Bitter Pill: Medicare Costs in 2026

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the 2026 premium and deductible figures. It’s a familiar story, as those costs are up again. The standard Medicare Part B premium will raise eyebrows and blood pressure as it increases by $17.90 a...

From the Horse’s Mouth: SSA Commissioner Delivers 2025 Fiscal Report

Gues what? It’s all good. On November 20 Frank Bisignano, Social Security’s Commissioner, published his letter to Congress detailing the agency’s achievements in 2025. The letter, which you can read in full here (Commissioner Letter to Congress: Year in Review) begins...

SNAP’s Back: Federal Food Stamp Payments to Resume

After the longest shutdown in its 249-year history the US government officially re-opened on Wednesday when its president signed a bill allowing funding until January 30 next year. While this would certainly appear to be only a temporary easing of the situation it...

Forking Out: SNAP Updates and Maryland’s Response

It is now widely known that it is forty-two million Americans who receive SNAP benefits, still also known as food stamps. They remain at the mercy of a government, which has remained shut down for thirty-seven days at the time of writing, and shows no sign of opening...