After kicking millions off Medicaid and raising the cost of insurance through the ACA, the Trump administration is now promoting junk plans that don’t provide adequate coverage. But thankfully Delaware and 19 other states are suing to stop this bad plan. news.delaware.gov/2026/08/03/a...

NC ACA premiums skyrocketed after subsidies expired - some jumped from $285 to $600/mo, others to nearly $3,000. Enrollment fell 21%, among the steepest declines nationwide, as deductibles hit a record $3,786. www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...

450,000 New Yorkers lost coverage July 1 when subsidies expired. Experts warn it could mean 42,500 deaths/year. Cheapest plan: $200/mo — unaffordable for families earning $31K-$39K. www.amny.com/law/lawyers-...

Maine’s response to the medical debt crisis goes into effect this week. LD 2129 prohibits medical debt collectors from garnishing wages or placing liens on patient homes because of a missed payment. Read more from Maine Sen. Denise Taylor: www.pressherald.com/2026/07/27/m...

New CMS rules threaten to limit who is eligible to receive Medicaid, making care less accessible for the Americans who need it most. In some cases, a cancer diagnosis isn’t even enough to bypass Federal work requirements. Read more: www.politico.com/news/2026/07...

PBMs work at the expense of the patient, not for. PMBs sued CA, opposing a rule that “requires PBMS to act in the best interest of their clients.” Predatory PBMs contribute to the growing medical debt crisis, rising costs across the board for patients in need. news.bloomberglaw.com/employee-ben...

When a Dr.’s independent practice gets bought by a hospital, the care stays the same, but the bill doubles. This encourages consolidation and leaves patients paying more for identical services. www.forbes.com/sites/richar...

23 Los Angeles hospitals are breaking federal price-transparency rules. They're hiding inflated prices behind opaque billing, facility fees, and confusing estimates. Hospital consolidation crushed competition. mynewsla.com/business/202...

Kentucky passed a new law eliminating cost barriers for colon cancer screening. No prior authorization from your insurance company. No deductibles or copays. Early detection saves lives & cuts treatment costs by 90%. Every state should have a law like this.

Nearly 1 in 4 workers are now trapped in jobs they hate just to keep health insurance. Five years ago, it was 1 in 6. As healthcare costs skyrocket, more people are sacrificing their careers just to stay insured. This is a fundamentally broken system. www.healthcaredive.com/news/1-in-5-...

The No Surprises Act was supposed to protect patients from medical bills. Instead, providers have weaponized the arbitration system to raise prices, collecting nearly $15B in 2025. www.wsj.com/health/healt...

For the first time, CMS admitted the No Surprises Act is being "gamed to get higher prices." A law designed to protect patients is being exploited by providers instead.

Trump Administration Says Surprise Billing Law Is Being ‘Gamed’ by Doctors

For the first time, officials have acknowledged problems with the No Surprises Act, which has led to huge payments.

nytimes.com

Voluntary promises aren’t enough when a patient’s health is on the line, and prior authorization fails to protect patients. Instead of increasing quality of care, it creates delays and denials that worsen patient treatment and raises costs. mexicoledger.com/premium/stor...

Consumers lose when hospitals merge. The end result is almost always higher prices, higher insurance premiums, and lower quality of care. Friendly reminder that hospital consolidation helps no one but the wealthy executives who run these behemoths. www.chiefhealthcareexecutive.com/view/more-ho...

More hospital mergers in first half of 2026, and momentum may continue | Chief Healthcare Executive

The number of deals in the first six months of the year has nearly matched the transactions seen in all of 2025. Analysts expect more mergers and acquisitions in the months ahead.

chiefhealthcareexecutive.com

Congress is cracking down on whether tax-exempt hospitals are using those benefits towards the public, or if it’s just another measure to protect revenue. This is a step in the right direction, and it ensures public resources are used to help people. waysandmeans.house.gov/2026/07/20/w...

23 Southern California hospitals – and 500 nationwide – were recently warned for hiding their prices in defiance of federal price-transparency rules. It’s hard to find any community where local hospitals are not keeping patients in the dark about the cost of their care.

Hospital care drives 40% of the recent rise in health spending—triple the share from prescription drugs. Yet drugs get all the outrage while hospital prices stay opaque and unchecked. Real savings start with hospital pricing.

Why Do We Hear More About High Drug Prices Than About Hospital Prices?

This JAMA Forum discusses the potential reasons why high drug prices get more attention in US society than high hospital prices.

jamanetwork.com

9 Houston hospitals just got caught hiding prices from patients, and Texas leads the nation with 42 warnings like it. No family should have to gamble on what a hospital visit is going to cost them. www.chron.com/news/article...

CA family health coverage tops $30K/year in 2027—more than a new car. 25¢ of every healthcare dollar spent in the state does nothing for patients: eaten by excess provider profits, red tape, waste—while workers eat hidden pay cuts and rising deductibles. www.latimes.com/business/sto...

Nonprofit hospitals get a $37B/year tax break to serve communities. New research: 6x more cash reserves than for-profit peers, 2x building spending—yet charity care stays thin. "Nonprofit healthcare is a misnomer. It's tax-exempt healthcare." www.brookings.edu/articles/non...

80% of medical bills contain at least one error, and 74% of patients who dispute them get it corrected. One SC lawmaker requested an itemized bill for his kids' care and the cost dropped by more than 1/2. You shouldn't need a legal, medical, or accounting degree to catch these errors. bit.ly/4pjRAUE

CMS issued 519 price transparency enforcement actions to hospitals nationwide since April. The rule exists so patients can see costs before they commit to care. When hospitals don't comply, patients are left guessing what a procedure will cost. www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2026/07/08/g...

Scott Winslow's doctors in Fiji documented the medical necessity of a medevac home. His insurance wouldn't approve payment without the family covering costs upfront. He died before help arrived.

Family of Massachusetts man who died in Fiji struggled to get medevac: "Everyone is just pointing fingers"

Despite the efforts of his family to bring him back to Boston for treatment, a Massachusetts man died in Fiji​ after getting critically ill.

cbsnews.com

1 company can be your insurer, your pharmacist, and your doctor's boss. That's not coordinated care. That's a company with incentive to decide what you can afford, not what you need. Patients are stuck paying the price for a system built to serve shareholders first.  www.nytimes.com/2026/07/08/b...

 Medicare Advantage was supposed to lower costs, but big hospitals are inflating their own profits through fraudulent upcoding. Now Congress has a chance to stop these abuses with a new bill. www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/medi...

 Fewer than half of Coloradans are confident they could determine how much a hospital would charge them. 519 hospitals didn't comply with price transparency rules. Patient treatments and care suffer, while hospitals pocket more profits. www.denverpost.com/2026/07/06/c...

 The No Surprises Act, meant to protect patients against poor price transparency practices, is inadvertently raising healthcare costs by billions of dollars, with patients ultimately footing the bill. Congress needs to reevaluate who they are protecting. www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/edit...

The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force has had its meetings postponed for the fourth time. The Trump administration’s postponements of the task force led to 16 months of inactivity while patients, doctors, and hospitals are facing the consequences. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/u...

“Consolidation in the healthcare industry, such as among hospitals as well as companies acting as middlemen between providers and employers, and not just insurers, are driving up insurance premiums and the cost of health services.” www.ksat.com/news/texas/2...

For many drugs, patients rely on coupons to cover high costs and meet out-of-pocket limits. Copay accumulators are changing this. The result: insurers that profit twice, and patients who struggle to afford necessary treatment. kffhealthnews.org/health-care-...