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BAN PRIOR AUTHORIZATION: Ending Big Medicine’s Strategy to Boost Profits by Denying Medically Necessary Care By Hannah Garden-Monheit and Emma Freer August 2026   I. INTRODUCTION   “Prior authorization” is the process by which health insurers require plan members to obtain their approval before a treatment occurs. It began as a narrow cost-control tool but […]

ACA Premiums Are Going Up Again and Patients are Paying the Price Lawmakers wanted to reform surprise billing so patients weren’t hit with unexpected charges. But they also created a parallel system with new middlemen that is increasing health care costs.   By David Dayen August 13, 2026   Official Washington, and more surprisingly Donald

ACA Premiums Are Going Up Again and Patients are Paying the Price After 2026 premium hikes pushed millions out of ACA coverage or into higher-deductible plans, insurers are seeking another round of double-digit increases while spending billions on stock buybacks.   By Rachel Madley, PhD August 12, 2026   Health insurers selling plans on the

What air quality sensors around Boyle Heights warehouse are telling us By Lucas Brady Woods for LAist Augustu 12, 2026   With kids headed back to classrooms for the school year, environmental health officials with LAUSD say there is no significant health risk from air contamination for students in Boyle Heights and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Medicaid Work Rule Leaves Homeless People in the Cold By Katheryn Houghton August 6, 2026   MISSOULA, Mont. — Tywon Pugh has seizures that make it hard to find and keep a job.   “They called me a ‘liability to the job site,’” Pugh said, recalling the words of his manager when a seizure cost

Calls Grow for Israel to Release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya; U.S. Doctor Says “Nobody Is Safe” in Gaza by Democracy Now! July 7, 2026   Israel continues to ignore international calls to free the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, from over 18 months of Israeli detention without charge. After seeing

GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr. Says Clinical Depression Led to 117-Day Absence from Congress by Democracy Now! July 7, 2026     A New Jersey Republican congressman recently emerged from 117 days of unexplained absence, saying he’d been hospitalized for clinical depression. Congressmember Tom Kean Jr. spoke from the House floor last week — his

Doctors Skeptical of Insurers’ Pledges to Rein in Prior Authorization by Joyce Frieden, Washington Editor, MedPage Today May 14, 2026   Physicians remain skeptical that health insurers’ pledges to ease prior authorization hassles will result in any meaningful action, an American Medical Association (AMA) survey found.   In June 2025, a group of about 60

Health Care Costs is the Issue Voters Can’t Afford to Ignore By Wendell Potter May 5, 2026   Pope Leo XIV (who became pope a year ago this week) isn’t just the first American pontiff—he’s also, as a Chicago native and Villanova University alum, the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to have experienced

A One-Pager on What’s Wrong with U.S. Health Care By Drew Altman April 23, 2026   The other day, I was asked for a one-pager on what’s wrong with the U.S. health system. “Just one page.” To my amazement, with our thousands of fact sheets and policy briefs and even our Health Policy 101, we