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If you buy your own health insurance, you are probably going to pay more next year—a lot more. Insurers are seeking hefty 2026 rate increases for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, the coverage known as Obamacare. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois wants a 27% hike, while its sister Blue Cross plan in Texas is asking for 21%. The largest ACA plans in Washington state, Georgia and Rhode Island are all looking for premiums to surge more than 20%. (Wilde Mathews, 7/18)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Insurers And Customers Brace For Double Whammy To Obamacare Premiums

Most of the 24 million people in Affordable Care Act health plans face a potential one-two punch next year — double-digit premium increases along with a sharp drop in the federal subsidies that most consumers depend on to buy the coverage, also known as Obamacare. Insurers want higher premiums to cover the usual culprits — rising medical and labor costs and usage — but are tacking on extra percentage point increases in their 2026 rate proposals to cover effects of policy changes advanced by the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. (Appleby, 7/18)

A coalition of 20 Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump administration Thursday to block implementation of a rule they argue will undermine the Affordable Care Act. The complaint was co-led by California, Massachusetts and New Jersey and filed in federal court in Massachusetts. The lawsuit alleges the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) illegally made changes to the health law, which will make it harder for people to enroll and will shift costs to states. (Weixel, 7/17)

Up to 1.7 million Texans are expected to lose their health insurance through coming changes to the Affordable Care Act marketplace under Republicans’ tax and spending megabill, according to an analysis by health policy experts — a serious blow to a state health care system already strained by the highest uninsured rate in the nation. (Birenbaum, 7/18)

States must begin verifying millions of Medicaid enrollees’ monthly work status by the end of next year — a task some critics say states will have a hard time carrying out. (Chatlani, 7/17)

The federal government won’t approve or renew state programs to promote multiyear, continuous Medicaid enrollment or health professional workforce development, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Thursday. Affected 1115 waivers will operate until their original approvals run out, then cease, Center for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Services Director Drew Snyder wrote in a pair of memoranda. (Early, 7/17)

President Donald Trump’s budget bill that could deeply cut the nation’s largest public health-insurance program stands to hurt some states more than others, according to Barclays Plc. Louisiana, Nevada and California stand to be the most negatively impacted if Medicaid is reduced, based on funding losses as a percentage of yearly revenue loss and the number of Americans with chronic health conditions living there, municipal strategists Mikhail Foux, Francisco San Emeterio and Grace Cen said in a Thursday note. (Taylor, 7/17)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Surprise Medical Bills Were Supposed To Be A Thing Of The Past. Surprise — They’re Not

Last year in Massachusetts, after finding lumps in her breast, Jessica Chen went to Lowell General Hospital-Saints Campus, part of Tufts Medicine, for a mammogram and sonogram. Before the screenings, she asked the hospital for the estimated patient responsibility for the bill using her insurance, Tufts Health Plan. Her portion, she was told, would be $359 — and she paid it. She was more than a little surprised weeks later to receive a bill asking her to pay an additional $1,677.51. “I was already trying to stomach $359, and this was many times higher,” Chen, a physician assistant, told me. (Rosenthal, 7/18)

Group healthcare costs are expected to increase by 8.5% in 2026. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute based its forecast published Thursday on policy changes, expensive medications including glucagon-like peptide agonists, higher rates of behavioral health claims and increased use of artificial intelligence, among other factors. (DeSilva, 7/17)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will be given access to the personal data of the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities, to track down immigrants who may not be living legally in the United States, according to an agreement obtained by The Associated Press. The information will give ICE officials the ability to find “the location of aliens” across the country, says the agreement signed Monday between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security. The agreement has not been announced publicly. (Kindy and Seitz, 7/17)

President Donald Trump’s so-called “one, big beautiful” tax and spending bill allocates $170 billion to fulfill the administration’s long list of immigration priorities, including hiring for law enforcement agents, border security personnel and immigration court judges. Also tucked into the massive, nearly 1,000-page legislation are provisions that pave the way for migrant children to face longer periods in detention with fewer legal protections. (Norwood, 7/17)

Children’s Hospital Colorado, the state’s largest pediatric specialty hospital, has received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of an apparent investigation into gender-affirming care for transgender youth. (Ingold, 7/18)

President Donald Trump underwent a comprehensive medical exam that revealed he has a common vein disorder but cleared him of more serious illnesses, the White House said Thursday. The White House disclosed the 79-year-old president’s medical information in response to speculation after photos showed Trump with swollen ankles. (Breuninger, 7/17)

President Donald Trump was recently diagnosed with a common vein condition called chronic venous insufficiency. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that Trump had noticed swelling in one of his legs, prompting him to undergo testing. CVI is a condition usually caused by damaged leg veins that struggle to send blood back up to the heart. Leavitt said Trump tested for other, more serious complications that sometimes go hand in hand with chronic venous insufficiency, but none were found. (Gardner, 7/17)

The Food and Drug Administration authorized Juul e-cigarettes for the U.S. market on Thursday, ending a lengthy standoff with regulators and lawmakers who accused the company of spurring an epidemic of e-cigarette use among youths. The company was required to prove that the products were “appropriate for the protection of public health” under agency rules. Juul said in a statement that it met the bar, in part, by showing that its products had helped about two million adults quit smoking cigarettes. (Jewett, 7/17)

In a surprise, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday voted that the risks tied to a blood cancer drug from GSK outweighed the benefits it had demonstrated in trials, as concerns about sometimes serious eye-related side effects and questions about the dose the company selected dominated a hearing. (Joseph, 7/17)

The comeback story of belantamab mafodotin (Blenrep) hit a roadblock Thursday as the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted that the drug does not have a favorable benefit-risk profile in combination with either of two different regimens for patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Granted accelerated approval in 2020 for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who had received at least four prior therapies, belantamab was pulled from the market 2 years later after the DREAMM-3 confirmatory trial failed to meet the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS). (Bassett, 7/17)

Whether brexpiprazole (Rexulti) is effective as adjunctive treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will be debated at an FDA advisory committee meeting on Friday. The atypical antipsychotic is under review as an adjunct to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) sertraline (Zoloft) for adults with PTSD. Brexpiprazole already is approved for schizophrenia, as adjunctive therapy for major depressive disorder, and for agitation associated with dementia. (Monaco, 7/17)

A dozen physicians and researchers participating in a Food and Drug Administration panel on Thursday pleaded with the agency to “stop harming women” and remove the so-called black box warning from packages containing hormone treatments for menopause. One after another, the panelists described patients who suffered from severe menopause symptoms — from hot flashes and painful sex to severe mood swings, forgetting names and even suicidal ideation — yet were scared away from estrogen-containing products by the labels. (Caryn Rabin, 7/17)

The Food and Drug Administration has cleared a variety of medical devices for clinical use that detect seizures, monitor for cardiac arrhythmias and cut across and seal soft tissue and organs. These devices received 510(k) clearance, which means they are similar to other devices on the market and are considered safe to use. (Dubinsky, 7/17)

The culture of academic medicine needs to change, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, said at an event sponsored by The Hill. "The culture of academic medicine in the United States has been defined by the culture of NIH, the Francis Collins culture mindset that the gene is responsible for most of our problems and the gene can solve most of our problems," Makary said at the event on Wednesday, referring to the former NIH director, who is a geneticist. "And while we need to do work on genetics, and we have a very robust gene editing and rare disease program at the FDA," that's not where the problem lies. (Frieden, 7/17)

Five months after taking over the federal agency responsible for the health of all Americans, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to overhaul an obscure but vital program that underpins the nation’s childhood immunization system. Depending on what he does, the results could be catastrophic. (Callahan, 7/17)

Standing between the United States and the U.S. Health and Human Services flags, Mark Cruz wore a bright red tie and a tribal medallion. He raised his right hand in the air, placed the other on a copy of the Constitution and the Bible held by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and swore his oath of office. With that, Cruz joined Kennedy’s team as a senior adviser to the secretary on American Indian health. (Chen, 7/18)

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced earlier this week that he wants to expand dairy recommendations in the federal dietary guidelines, which are set to be updated later this year. ... Currently, the U.S. dietary guidelines recommend Americans ages 9 and older have three cup equivalents of dairy daily or lactose-free or fortified soy alternatives. and children ages 1 to 8 are recommended to have between 1.6 cups and 2.5 cups depending on their age. (Kekatos, 7/17)

Pop quiz: What’s Coca-Cola with cane sugar and ice cream made with natural dyes? Answer: Coca-Cola and ice cream. Getting Coca-Cola to use cane sugar rather than corn syrup and ice cream manufacturers to stop their use of synthetic dyes are the latest achievements trumpeted by the Make America Healthy Again movement as part of its quest to reform the U.S. food supply. But nutrition experts say that despite MAHA’s rhetoric, these kinds of changes won’t move the needle when it comes to Americans’ health. (Todd, 7/17)

The corn industry is bracing for impact after President Donald Trump took aim at high-fructose corn syrup in Coca-Cola soft drinks, saying in a Truth Social post that he persuaded the company to use cane sugar in the U.S. version of its namesake drink, as it does in some other countries. Coca-Cola has yet to publicly confirm Trump’s claim, but the company suggested in a statement Wednesday that changes are in the pipeline. (Amouyal and Telford, 7/17)

PEPFAR, the popular global HIV/AIDS program credited with saving millions of lives, has been spared from a package of billions of dollars in spending cuts that Congress sent to President Donald Trump early Friday morning to sign into law. The original rescissions package Trump requested called for $400 million in cuts to PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which George W. Bush started in 2003. But in the Senate, Democrats and a handful of Republicans objected to the PEPFAR cuts. (Wong and Kapur, 7/18)

�鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘What The Health?’ Podcast: The Senate Saves PEPFAR Funding — For Now

The Senate has passed — and sent back to the House — a bill that would allow the Trump administration to claw back some $9 billion in previously approved funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting. But first, senators removed from the bill a request to cut funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, President George W. Bush’s international AIDS/HIV program. The House has until Friday to approve the bill, or else the funding remains in place. (Rovner, 7/17)

Nearly 800,000 mpox vaccine doses the U.S. government had promised to donate to African countries experiencing an outbreak of the rash-causing disease cannot be shipped because they’re expiring in less than six months, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. “For a vaccine to be shipped to a country, we need a minimum of six months before expiration to ensure that the vaccine can arrive in good condition and also allow the country to implement the vaccination,” said Yap Boum, an Africa CDC deputy incident manager. (Paun, 7/17)

A new bipartisan Senate bill would require companies that run health plans to hand over data to employers who insure their workers more quickly, or face thousands of dollars in penalties. The bill, which is expected to be filed Thursday, would prohibit so-called “third-party administrators” from delaying disclosures of information to employers’ health plans. Health insurance is generally the most expensive benefit an employer offers. (Cohrs Zhang, 7/17)

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced legislation to help veterans access alternatives to opioids, part of a broader push to promote safer painkillers and reduce overdose deaths. The Nopain for Veterans Act would require the US Department of Veterans Affairs to include non-opioid pain drugs on its formulary, making it easier for patients to access them. The bill has several sponsors, including Reps. Greg Landsman, a Democrat from Ohio, and Derrick Van Orden, a Republican from Wisconsin and former Navy Seal. (Smith, 7/17)

Partnerships between telehealth companies and pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Eli Lilly raise concerns about conflicts of interest and inappropriate prescribing, according to a Senate investigation released Thursday. The report by offices of several Democratic senators said the arrangements appear intended to steer patients to medications manufactured by those companies, which maintain websites touting drugs and providing links directing them to doctors who can prescribe them. (Ovalle, 7/17)

Only 35% to 40% of US pregnant women and parents of young children say they intend to fully vaccinate their child, per survey results from researchers at Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Van Beusekom, 7/17)

Today, JAMA Oncology published two studies and a research letter on COVID-19 and cancer, including a retrospective cohort study showing that COVID-19 booster vaccinations offered significant protection against severe infection. A second study determined risk factors for hospitalization and death in patients with cancer and COVID-19 infection, and a third research letter describes the pandemic’s effect on breast cancer surveillance and outcomes. (Soucheray, 7/17)

Almost 20% of people who were hospitalized for COVID-19 infections early in the pandemic still had signs of impairment with brain function 2 years after infection, finds a new study in Scientific Reports. (Soucheray, 7/17)

At the FDA's request, delandistrogene moxeparvovec (Elevidys), the only approved gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, will carry a black box warning for acute liver injury and acute liver failure, drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics said. The label change follows the death of two boys with Duchenne who died soon after being treated with delandistrogene moxeparvovec. In June, the FDA said it was investigating the deaths, focusing on the risk of acute liver failure with serious outcomes, including hospitalization and death, after treatment. (George, 7/17)

A shortened, all-oral drug regimen worked well for some patients with pre-extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (pre-XDR TB), according to the results of a multi-country randomized controlled trial published this week in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. But the benefits were primarily seen in those with limited disease. (Dall, 7/17)

Women exposed to pesticides through farm work or as farmers' wives face increased risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a new analysis of Agricultural Health Study (AHS) data indicated. For a variety of insecticides and fungicides that are or once were commonly used on U.S. farms, adjusted odds for new-onset RA were 1.21 to 2.49 times greater among exposed participants versus the unexposed, according to Christine G. Parks, PhD, MSPH, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and colleagues. (Gever, 7/17)

For decades, structural biologists shoved what looked like shoddy data in the back of their closets, embarrassed. While attempting to gather the structures of proteins, they would sometimes find that all or at least a portion of the protein would just not show up correctly in the data. (Trang, 7/17)

Physicians who use artificial intelligence (AI) are perceived less favorably than those who don't use it, a survey showed. In a survey of 1,276 U.S. adults who were shown fake social media or billboard advertisements for family doctors, physicians portrayed to use AI were perceived as significantly less competent, trustworthy, and empathetic compared with those whose AI use was not mentioned, reported Moritz Reis, MSc, of the University of Wuerzburg in Germany, and colleagues. (Henderson, 7/17)

Hospitals are working with states to prepare bids for a $50 billion fund that aims to bolster rural healthcare, though the program may not be enough to sustain providers. States have until the end of the year to submit to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services their plans for the Rural Health Transformation Program funding that was part of the new tax law. However, industry observers are concerned the program won’t ultimately benefit the highest-need rural hospitals and will not be enough to mitigate looming Medicaid and Medicare cuts. (Kacik, 7/17)

It’s a directive that hospitals and health systems of every size know well — whether sprawling academic medical centers, multistate nonprofit systems or rural, independent 25-bed hospitals. While the phrase isn’t new, the urgency behind it is intensifying. The nation’s healthcare workforce remains fragile, forcing leaders to distinguish between staffing gaps that are temporary hurdles or structural limitations. Revenue projections for health systems have shifted dramatically — even within the last six months — as federal spending plans tighten, particularly around Medicaid. Funding for clinical research, once considered a durable pillar of U.S. healthcare post-World War II, is also undergoing one of its most significant shakeups, underscoring a stark reality: Even the most established sources of support are no longer guaranteed. (Woldenberg, Gooch, Taylor, Bruce, Kuchno and Cass, 7/17)

The drugmakers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer plan to sell the widely used blood thinner Eliquis directly to patients at a discounted cash price—a move that follows the Trump administration’s pressure on the industry to cut drug prices. The companies, which have a joint venture that markets Eliquis, said the new service will allow uninsured or underinsured patients to buy the pill at more than 40% off the current list price starting Sept. 8. The service will provide direct shipping of the drug to patients in the U.S. (Loftus, 7/17)

Novartis AG announced disappointing sales for a key psoriasis drug and the looming retirement of its respected finance chief, which overshadowed a modest outlook raise. Harry Kirsch will be replaced by Mukul Mehta as chief financial officer next March, the Swiss drugmaker said Thursday. Kirsch, who will retire after more than a decade as finance chief, “is widely considered the best CFO in the industry,” said Naresh Chouhan at Intron Health. (Loh and Kresge, 7/17)

Around the winter holidays, Scout Stephen found herself unraveling. She desperately needed to speak to someone. She reached out to her therapist, but they were on vacation. Her friends were unavailable. She tried calling a suicide crisis hot line, but it felt robotic and left her feeling more alone and disconnected. (Gagosz, 7/17)

A Trump-aligned legal group is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what it claims are “illegal DEI practices” at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. America First Legal, founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in 2021, filed a complaint Thursday demanding the DOJ investigate the university for “systemic, intentional, and ongoing discrimination” through its diversity, equity and inclusion admissions and hiring practices. (Schumer, 7/17)

When Atrium Health and the Wake Forest University School of Medicine announced plans in 2021 to build Charlotte’s first four-year medical school, they said they wanted it to have “one of the most diverse learner bodies in the country.” But now that the campus has opened its doors, it’s hard to determine whether they hit that goal. (Crouch, 7/18)

Ernest Talarico Jr.’s students, for a brief moment, had a serious-yet-somewhat amusing question to ponder: Should a middle-aged male triathlete wear boxers or briefs if he and his wife want to conceive a child? (Quinn, 7/17)

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo is urging more study of people who say they were injured by COVID-19 vaccines. A press conference in Tampa on Thursday, Ladapo also praised the federal government's decision in May, announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to no longer recommend COVID-19 mRNA vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. (Sheridan, 7/17)

In an analysis of 911 data, The Baltimore Sun found that, while behavioral health calls in Baltimore surged in the past two years, the number of those calls diverted to mental health services dropped more than 50%, leaving police officers to respond to situations they might be ill-prepared to handle. (Schumer, 7/17)

The Illinois Department of Public Health has doled out tens of thousands of dollars in fines to dozens of nursing homes throughout the Chicago area, including a handful where “severe” violations led to residents’ deaths, the agency announced this week. (Johnson, 7/17)

The St. Louis County Department of Public Health has confirmed its first West Nile virus-positive mosquitoes of the summer. The mosquito samples were collected from both north and west county. In 2023, the percentage of mosquitoes testing positive for the virus skyrocketed to 23%, up from just 2.6% the year prior. Last year, it was nearly 22%. (Mizelle, 7/18)

The Northeast has seen a rise in tick-related hospitalizations this summer. State health officials and scientists are working to mitigate the issue. Scott C. Williams, a chief scientist with The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, said the increase in ticks can be attributed to warmer winters. (Hanzlik-Barend, 7/17)

North Carolina can seek federal funding to help its overloaded response efforts to Tropical Storm Chantal, which killed at least six people and left damage from flooding in its wake, as Gov. Josh Stein announced a state of emergency Thursday. ... Some rivers reached record-breaking levels from the storm, including the Eno River in Durham, one of several cities where some residents lost access to safe drinking water because of damage to the water system. (Seminera, 7/17)

Public health officials around the country are long familiar with the boom-and-bust cycles that have marked public health funding in the United States. When you have an emergency that needs an immediate response, like a pandemic, the money flows. When the crisis is over, the money tends to dry up, making it hard for state and local health departments to prepare for the next emergency. ... But what's transpired under the second Trump administration has been even worse than what many officials were prepared for. (Dall, 7/16)

When HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) last month, he backed up his claims about financial conflicts among panelists by citing a 25-year-old U.S. House of Representatives committee report. What's in that report, and is it really as damning as Kennedy suggests? (Nielsen, 7/16)

Hims started by offering generic Viagra and Rogaine, two of the most popular drugs in recent history. In pursuit of millennial guys too chagrined to seek in-person counsel from a physician about their hairline or bedroom performance, Hims bedecked New York subway cars and the walls above urinals in San Francisco with intentionally cringey, tough-to-turn-away-from ads, such as those featuring a cactus rising from its planter. (Muller and Leonard, 7/15)

With eight kids and another one on the way, Megan Alger can seem more like the CEO of a small company than a typical American mom. In their family's suburban home in Augusta, Ga., kids are taught to be self-sufficient from a young age. Megan regularly deputizes her older children to care for the younger ones. ... As Roman Catholics, Megan and her husband, Stephen Alger, believe strongly in the family unit. Megan doesn't engage in paid work in order to homeschool the younger kids and run the household. She has delivered most of her babies at home. That's the plan with this next one too. (Riddle, 7/15)

Ten years ago, U.K. policymakers gave the green light to a pioneering reproductive technology meant to spare children from being born with types of rare but sometimes fatal diseases caused by genetic mutations in the powerplants of cells. The method involved combining not just the genes of a mother and father to produce an embryo, but a bit of DNA from a third person as well. (Joseph and Molteni, 7/16)

One day last summer, Alison slipped off her jewelry, stepped into a hospital gown and lay down inside a full-body MRI scanner. As the machine issued calming instructions — breathe in, hold, breathe out — it captured thousands of images, from her head to her toes. A tech worker and mother of two in her 50s, Alison (whose full name can’t be shared under participant privacy rules) had joined a nationwide health study after spotting a flyer in her local library. Her mother died young of cancer, and women like her — of Caribbean background — were underrepresented in research and often overlooked. (Gale and Furlong, 7/18)

It had been a while since Zackie Achmat confronted his government about matters of life and death. Twenty-five years ago, Mr. Achmat co-founded what became the most powerful social movement in post-apartheid South Africa. He led a showdown against the government that won lifesaving medical treatment for millions of people with H.I.V. — and nearly killed him. Until just a few months ago, Mr. Achmat, 63, thought those days were well behind him. (Nolen, 7/14)

Once considered a disease of aging, cancer is now showing up more often in people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s — times when they are launching their careers and starting families. (Mary Beth Terry, 7/18)

It will be years before the U.S. feels the full weight of the recent sweeping Medicaid cuts. But the free and charitable clinics that act as the last line of defense for the health and well-being of uninsured Americans are already preparing to pick up the pieces. (Ariana Gordillo De Vivero and Harley Jones, 7/18)

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will be one big disaster for Massachusetts’ health care system and those who rely on it. How big? Approximately 326,000 Massachusetts residents — almost 5 percent of the entire state population — are expected to lose insurance coverage under the bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office. (7/17)

Last week, I explained why it matters if the United States were to lose its status of having eliminated measles. That prompted many readers to ask what additional precautions they should take to protect themselves against the virus, which I wanted to answer here. (Leana S. Wen, 7/17)

Last Thursday’s mass overdose in Baltimore’s Penn North neighborhood — a disaster of the strictly manmade variety that sent 27 people to area hospitals in a 24-hour period, all of whom somewhat miraculously survived — was easily the worst episode of its kind in recent memory. There was no tornado, no breaking dam, no 10-car freeway pileup to vex first responders and justify so many ambulance runs, just a “bad batch” of street drugs consumed by local users, perhaps free samples of a new opioid blend. (7/17)