(CNN) – If your 2026 resolution involved budgeting, you might want to take note of changes happening Thursday that could affect your Social Security benefits, health care costs and more.<\/p>\n
It is a new year, and new federal changes could affect the wallets and lives of Americans.<\/p>\n
For some seniors, money could get a bit tighter.<\/p>\n
Social Security recipients are getting a 2.8% cost-of-living increase. The Social Security earnings test, wage cap and maximum benefit also are going up, but Medicare Part B premiums are rising by almost $18 a month. That is one of the largest increases in the program\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
With inflation added, the net result could be in the red for some seniors.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, millions of people with Affordable Care Act plans are facing much steeper costs.<\/p>\n
Pandemic-era subsidies are also gone as of Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re expecting that on average premium payments are going to more than double,\u201d said Cynthia Cox, vice president and director of KFF\u2019s Program on the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n
This is the first regular tax season with changes in effect from a bill signed in July.<\/p>\n
They include a higher standard deduction and higher state and local tax deductions, as well as new breaks for seniors, car loan interest, tips and overtime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose very important things that put more money in working class people\u2019s pockets,\u201d said David Urban, a Republican strategist.<\/p>\n
A proclamation issued yesterday delays tariff hikes on some furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities that were set to begin on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
Also starting Thursday, the president\u2019s travel ban expands to 39 countries.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(CNN) – If your 2026 resolution involved budgeting, you might want to take note of changes happening Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[134837,134838,134836,69120,24149,79,18,19,17,145,134843,234,235,1078,134839,134840,134842,134841,1255],"class_list":{"0":"post-262322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-2026-tax-breaks","9":"tag-2026-tax-year","10":"tag-2026-taxes","11":"tag-aca","12":"tag-affordable-care-act","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-medicare","18":"tag-medicare-part-b","19":"tag-personal-finance","20":"tag-personalfinance","21":"tag-social-security","22":"tag-social-security-cost-of-living-increase","23":"tag-social-security-earnings-test","24":"tag-social-security-maximum-benefit","25":"tag-social-security-wage-cap","26":"tag-tariffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115822056079751335","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}