Weekly News Roundup for Apr 20, 2026


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Andy Imparato
 
 

Breaking News in Healthcare Reform

 

Featured Podcast

 

“I had a set of specialized diagnostic tests at a cancer center in Seattle, and what I expected – was led to believe – was my insurance would cover the cost. But when the $31,000 plus bill came, it was a total shock.”

Designed to Fail: How Insurance Denials Really Work

Featuring Bob Coleman, Author, Hostile Takeover

Code WACK! | Podcast Episode 326 | April 20, 2026

 

“Rep. Greg Murphy, R-North Carolina, … a urologist and outspoken critic of payers, urged Kennedy and HHS to take aim at vertical integration and to do more to regulate ‘middlemen’ like pharmacy benefit managers.”

RFK Jr. Kicks Off String of Congressional Hearings to Talk White House Budget Plan

Fierce Healthcare | Paige Minemyer | April 16, 2026

 

“…the clearest signal to date on just how drastically the ACA exchanges could contract this year due to the expiration of COVID-era enhanced tax credits.”

ACA Exchanges Will Continue to Shrink as Fewer Enrollees Pay Premiums, Analysis Suggests

Healthcare Dive | Rebecca Pifer Parduhn | April 16, 2026

 

“Major for-profit insurers like Elevance’s Anthem subsidiary, UnitedHealthcare and CVS’ Aetna all had overturn percentages of about 40% to 50%.”

More Insurance Claims Denials Are Being Overturned Upon Appeal, Study Finds

Healthcare Dive | Rebecca Pifer Parduhn | April 15, 2026

 

Universal access [in Mexico] will be rolled out in phases starting with emergency care and continuity of care in early 2027. Radiotherapy, laboratory tests, imaging studies, and other specialized services will be added later that year. Finally, in 2028, universal prescription fulfillment and hospitalization will be consolidated.”

As Trump Pushes Privatization, Mexico’s Sheinbaum Embraces Healthcare as a Human Right

Common Dreams | Jordan Liz | April 15, 2026

 

“[Mexican health care] is a fragmented network … operating in parallel. Each is tied to employment status, geography, or bureaucratic category and reproduces the same inequality the system was supposed to fix. Sheinbaum proposes something simpler … a single credential, shared infrastructure, and guaranteed access that follows the patient, not institutions.”

Claudia Sheinbaum Is Showing the U.S. That Universal Healthcare Is Not That Complicated

Mitu | Yamily Habib | April 15, 2026

 

“A significant difference between the US health care system and other countries is its complexity and the dominance of for-profit corporations.”

Guarantee Health Care to All Americans

Center for Economic & Policy Research | Brandon Novick | April 13, 2026

 

“Provider and hospital groups immediately pushed back on the rule, arguing the decline in uncompensated care payments comes amid rising costs from more Americans going uninsured. The national uninsurance rate is expected to rise to 9.1% in 2027 from roughly 7.6% in 2025, according to federal estimates.”

Medicare Proposes 2.4% Pay Bump For Inpatient Hospitals in 2027, Floats Mandatory Model

Healthcare Dive | Sydney Halleman | April 13, 2026

 

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Our podcast Code WACK! brings to life the failures of America’s healthcare system with stories, commentary and analysis. 
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