Breaking News in Healthcare Reform
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“Imagine being cut off from Mom – a nursing home resident – for months. You can’t bring her favorite foods, or help dress her, hug her, or even hold her hand. For thousands of families during the COVID-19 pandemic, this became a heartbreaking reality.”
Why Nursing Home Residents Need the Essential Caregivers Act
Featuring Tony Chicotel, senior staff attorney with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, or CANHR.
Code WACK! | Podcast Episode 335 | June 22, 2026
“The proposal would require all health plans, both public and private, to pay a monthly rate of $8.85 per enrollee – a total cost of about $1.5 billion a year for private plans…. The California Association of Health Plans, the health insurance lobby, estimates this would translate to consumers paying about $100 more in premiums each year … a family of four could be looking at $400 more a year in health premiums.”
California is Getting Ready to Increase a Health Insurance Tax. Will It Affect Your Premium?
CalMatters | Ana B. Ibarra | June 18, 2026
“The [UCLA] report generally contends that a single-payer system would, by eliminating the paperwork and other aspects of the current system, be the most efficient from a cost/benefit basis.”
Single-Payer Healthcare in California is Possible. An Economic and Political Thicket Stands in the Way
CalMatters | Dan Walters | June 18, 2026
“…about half of respondents were ‘extremely concerned’ or ‘concerned’ that their household would be unable to pay for needed healthcare services in 2026, up from 42% who said that in 2022.”
How Many Americans Can Afford High-Quality Healthcare? A New Poll Finds the Number Has Fallen
Associated Press | Ali Swenson, Amelia Thomson-Deveaux | June 17, 2026
“More than 700 rural hospitals, or one third of all rural hospitals in the country, are at risk of closing in the near future, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.”
In Trump Country, His Policies Have People on the Margins Counting on ‘Angel’ Paramedics
MS Now | Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt, Cameron Brock | June 17, 2026
“The new rule reveals the administration’s priorities, even as consumers’ costs rise. It ratchets up scrutiny of the enrollment process and imposes administrative barriers it projects will cause up to 2 million people to lose coverage.”
The Trump Administration’s New ACA Marketplace Rule Gives Insurance Companies Flexibility and Consumers Red Tape
Commonwealth Fund | Justin Giovannelli | June 17, 2026
“Judge Brendan A. Hurson of the U.S. District court in Maryland vacated controversial final rule provisions such as the imposition of a $5 premium penalty on automatic re-enrollees and the revocation of guaranteed insurance coverage for individuals with a past-due premium.”
Court Sides with ACA Proponents in Throwing Out Provisions of Final Rule
Healthcare Finance News | Susan Morse | June 16, 2026
“The data reflect a growing national consensus that corporate insurers have assumed an outsized and harmful role in American healthcare, worsening patients’ access to care, overriding professional medical judgment, and driving up costs for patients and families….”
47% of US Adults Say Corporate Health Insurers ‘Primary Drivers’ of Rising Health Costs
Fierce Healthcare | Cailey Gleeson | June 15, 2026
“…the people who have dropped their coverage include Lyft and Uber drivers. They’re trying to start their own businesses. They are artists and people who can work only part-time, because they’re chronically ill.”
They’re Uninsured After Obamacare Became Too Costly. And They’re Far From Alone.
CBS News | Andrew Jones | June 15, 2026
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Shining a light on ongoing inequities in health care
and the impact they have on vulnerable individuals and communities.
Our podcast Code WACK! brings to life the failures of America’s healthcare system with stories, commentary and analysis.
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