Breaking News in Healthcare Reform
Featured Podcast
“‘Managed Care Organizations.’ They use that moniker to mean that they’re supposed to improve care coordination, but really they don’t. Care coordination is impossible when you have these narrow networks.”
States Push Back Against Medicaid Managed Care
Featuring Alankrita Olson, MD, MPH
Code WACK! | Podcast Episode 323 | March 30, 2026
“We need to show that we have a plan, not just to repeal bad stuff, or even to rebuild — but to reimagine what the health system should look like.”
Dems Quietly Start Their Next Big Health Care Effort
The Bulwark | Jonathan Cohn | March 29, 2026
“…new bills seek to reinforce a false binary between abortion care and care for pregnancy loss….”
Separating Abortion and Pregnancy-Loss Care Harms Everyone
Common Dreams | Isabel Guarnieri, Kimya Forouzan | March 29, 2026
“…at current vaccination rates, the nation is already teetering on the brink of an explosion in measles cases….”
The Horrors That Could Lie Ahead If Vaccines Vanish
ProPublica | Lucas Waldron, Patricia Callahan | March 27, 2026
“Absent a new revenue source, and quickly, the fallout could be catastrophic at the county level: a severe reduction in these clinics’ ability to provide care for the hundreds of thousands of patients, mostly low income or indigent, who come through their doors every year.”
The Least-Bad Option: A County Sales Tax to Save California Health Clinics
Capital & Main | Mark Kreidler | March 26, 2026
“Lengthy contract negotiations between health insurers and healthcare providers are becoming the norm, leaving patients — our shared customers — in a confusing and concerning ‘out-of-network’ status, while health insurers and providers point fingers at each other.”
Patients Are Often Left ‘Out of Network’ as Hospitals, Insurers Clash Over Cost
CalMatters | Craig Wagoner | March 26, 2026
“This proposal allows everyone the option of enrolling in traditional Medicare regardless of age, even allowing employers to select Medicare by Choice as their employees’ workplace benefit.”
Group Floats ‘Medicare by Choice’ as a Democratic Health Care Alternative
The Hill | Joseph Choi | March 26, 2026
“California launched its own individual mandate in 2020 after the federal penalty disappeared, requiring all residents to maintain minimum essential coverage. If you skip coverage for the full year, the California Franchise Tax Board calculates your penalty using two different methods and charges you whichever amount turns out to be higher.”
Health Insurance in These 5 States Comes With a Fine No One Warns You About
The Street | Damilola Esebame | March 25, 2026
“Doctors enter medicine to care for people, but are increasingly forced to navigate barriers that delay or deny treatment to generate profit. When clinical judgment is overridden by financial priorities, patient care suffers.”
‘Harmed by the System’ — Physicians Suffer Moral Injury When Health Care Chases Profits, Not Patient Care, Report Says
Medical Economics | Richard Payerchin, Fact check: Keith A. Reynolds | March 24, 2026
“In 2025, after the [Medi-Cal] expansion had been in effect for a year, state officials said it was costing $6.2 billion more than anticipated.”
Medi-Cal Faces Funding Emergency from State Miscalculations, Federal Budget Cuts
CalMatters | Dan Walters | March 24, 2026
“…US policy shifts can have measurable impacts on global health outcomes within the relatively short time frame of a Presidential administration.”
US Presidential Party Switches Are Mirrored in Global Maternal Mortality
BMJ Global Health | Sonia Bhalotra, et al | March 24, 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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