Financial Changes in October 2023: Millions of Americans will experience significant financial shifts in October. 43 million individuals will resume making payments on their federal student loans after a three-year break.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme, or SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), will see a modest increase in the number of recipients. After Saturday’s expiration of pandemic emergency funds that had been supporting the sector, more than 3 million youngsters may no longer have access to child care. Finally, 65 million Medicare-eligible seniors will have the option to make changes to their health care strategies.
Financial Changes in October 2023
We’re breaking down what each of these financial changes in October 2023 could imply for your wallet because any one of them could significantly alter people’s budgets.
Student Loans Repayment: Most Important Changes Made Recently
Payment of student loans starts
You have most likely already received a statement from your loan servicer by this point. It includes information on your monthly federal student loan payment amount and the interest rate that is applied to your outstanding balance. After a three-year break, millions of people will have to make their first loan payment this month.
Get in touch with your loan service right away if you haven’t already. If you don’t make your payments, interest will start to accumulate even if your payment history won’t be recorded to credit agencies for a year. So, if you can, start making payments.
According to Federal Reserve data from 2018 through May 2019, the average monthly student loan payment for individuals who were making payments ranged from $200 to $299. Deferments are permitted while students are enrolled in college, thus nearly 3 in 10 adults with outstanding student loan debt were not making payments, according to the study.
Check to determine if you owe state taxes on any debt forgiveness you were fortunate enough to receive.
An increase for SNAP
You might start seeing an increase in your bill this month since the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, began to take effect for SNAP recipients on Sunday.
The maximum a family of four can receive each month has increased from $939 to $973. The highest amount a single recipient may receive rises to $291 from $281. On the other hand, the minimum benefit for up to a two-person household will often continue at $23.
Although the COLA rise is probably welcomed by SNAP beneficiaries, it won’t entirely make up for the loss of emergency increases this year due to the pandemic. The last of the pandemic supplement ran out by March. According to the nonpartisan research and policy organisation Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities, every SNAP household experienced a decrease of at least $95 per month, but some experienced decreases of $250 or more.
After the boost expired, the average person received nearly $90 less in SNAP payments each month, it claimed.
The Department of Agriculture reported that 41.5 million people every month, or 12.5% of Americans, received SNAP in fiscal year 2021. 43% of all SNAP recipients in the 2019 fiscal year were youngsters, and 16% were 60 or older, according to the report.
Parents may lose child care 
According to loan site NetCredit, child care already exceeds the cost of public college tuition by an average of $1,031 annually. Parents may now notice a wider gap since pandemic-related child care emergency money has run out.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the $24 billion Child Care Stabilisation Programme, which was approved as part of the American Rescue Plan of 2021, provided funding for more than 220,000 child care programmes that may serve up to 9.6 million children. On Saturday, that programme expired.
Without the extra money, child care programmes might have to shut down. According to The Century Foundation, a progressive public policy think tank, over 70,000 child care programmes may collapse. According to the report, more than 3 million kids could lose their child care places.
According to experts, those that are still operating may have to boost their costs, putting some families in danger of going over the edge financially.
Beginning of Medicare open enrollment
With Medicare’s open enrollment commencing on October 15 and continuing through December 7, more than 65 million Americans will soon have the opportunity to change their health insurance policies.
Medicare beneficiaries who need to adjust their health plans and prescription medication coverage for the upcoming year due to changes in their health, their financial situation, or another reason can do so during open enrollment.
According to the non-profit KFF, which focuses on health care policy, only approximately one-third of Medicare beneficiaries compare plans during the open enrollment period.
However, experts strongly advise you to examine your coverage because policies, particularly prescription coverage, frequently change and you can find up paying more. Cost, coverage, and the doctors and pharmacies that are included in a Medicare health and drug plan’s network are just a few of the items that can vary annually.
