When Congress allowed covid-era subsidies for health insurance to expire, California used its own funds to offset the hike in Obamacare premium costs for residents with low incomes. But the reach has been limited. As Gov. Gavin Newsom negotiates his last budget with the legislature, the Democrat wants to offer financial help to more than…
The Trump administration has issued final rules on how states should ensure that millions of Medicaid enrollees prove they’re working or completing other activities, such as job training, volunteering, or being enrolled in an educational program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the rules on June 1. That deadline was set last year…
By MIKE MAGEE Last week, policy wonks from the right and the left, finally found a topic they could agree on – Kids are no longer having (as many) kids. Specifically, teen pregnancies dropped an additional 10% in the US in 2025. This is an acceleration of a trend which began two decades ago. Teen births…
Clinical AI startup Abridge held a New York City event to signal it’s done being thought of as just an AI scribe. The company announced a Nvidia foundation model partnership, an Eli Lilly investment, new capabilities for its platform, and the intent to help mediate the relationship between payers and providers. The post Abridge Goes…
By KIM BELLARD It probably didn’t show up on your calendar, but Monday was World Ocean Day. It’s a day meant to catalyze “collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate,” and has been around since 2002 (although the U.N. didn’t officially recognize it until 2008). Its website claims a network of over…
At AHIP 2026, healthcare leaders raised concerns about CMS’ new Medicaid eligibility requirements, with one urging the agency to give states more time to implement them. The post Healthcare Leader to CMS on New Medicaid Eligibility Requirements: Give States an Extension appeared first on MedCity News.
Sometimes the most meaningful moments of care happen when someone simply takes the time to be present. While making her regular rounds at Texas Children’s Hospital, The Woodlands, Environmental Services (EVS) Houskeeper Maruja Caballero, heard a young patient crying. When she arrived at his room to collect the trash, she stopped in her tracks and moved into action to help. …
Novartis said its RNA therapy del-brax met goals of a Phase 1/2 study in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), an inherited muscle disorder that currently has no FDA-approved medicines. Del-brax is one of three RNA therapies from Novartis’s $12 billion acquisition of Avidity Biosciences. The post Novartis RNA Med From $12B Deal Keeps Building Case to…
The Medicare Part D program provides an outpatient prescription drug benefit to 56 million older adults and people with long-term disabilities in Medicare who enroll in private plans. This brief analyzes Medicare Part D enrollment, premiums, and cost sharing in 2026 and trends over time, based on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid…
The private plans that offer the Medicare Part D benefit – stand-alone drug plans and Medicare Advantage drug plans – are increasingly are competing on uneven terms, in part because the payment system for Medicare Advantage plans enables them to lower Part D premiums or reduce Part D cost sharing, making drug coverage from Medicare…