Weekly News Roundup for Sep 7, 2026


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Andy Imparato

Breaking News in Healthcare Reform

 

Featured Podcast

 

In honor of Labor Day, we’re looking at the powerful connection between work and healthcare in America — and what it means for workers when their health coverage depends on their jobs.….

Labor Day: Why Every Union Negotiation Is Really About Health Care

Featuring Mark Dudzic, Co-Founder, Labor Campaign for Single Payer

Code WACK! | Podcast Episode 346 | September 7, 2026

 

“…the health insurance industry hasn’t achieved much beyond establishing itself as a profiteering force within the U.S. healthcare system, driving up costs while failing to improve care.”

Medicare for All Is Back on the Political Front Burner. A Democratic Majority Could Pass It

Insurance News Net | Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times | September 5, 2026

 

“What has happened is we have created a healthcare system that is dramatically more expensive than any other country’s in terms of healthcare, in part because we have introduced so many bureaucratic hurdles that are designed to deny people care, to increase the profit margin. And that creates incentives for folks to get as much money as they can out of the system, when different parts of the system are trying to squeeze as much money as they can out of it. And also, all those barriers and paperwork and bureaucracy, that also adds additional costs.”

‘Medicare for All Is a System That Can Absolutely Be Built in the US’

FAIR.org | Janine Jackson | September 2, 2026

 

“The most actionable finding for benefits brokers is not who is [insurance] switching, but what they prioritize when they do. Among likely switchers, network coverage ranked first at 36 percent, followed by out-of-pocket spending limits at 32 percent. Overall plan price came third.”

Health Insurance Switching Intent Hits a New High Before Open Enrollment

Insurance Business | Mark Rosanes | September 2, 2026

 

“In the affordability debate, nothing’s more central to it than healthcare….”

Healthcare Tops the Democrats’ To-Do List If They Win Control of the House in 2026

NBC News | Sahil Kapur, Scott Wong | September 2, 2026

 

“…Medicare spent more than half a billion dollars over three years on drugs it shouldn’t have paid for….”

Medicare Spent Hundreds of Millions of Dollars on Ineligible Drugs, Audit Finds

Healthcare Dive | Rebecca Pifer Parduhn | September 2, 2026

 

“More Americans are paying cash in the emergency department while fewer rely on Medicaid, showing how coverage losses in the safety-net insurance program after the coronavirus pandemic are placing more direct financial pressure on low-income patients.”

Medicaid Losses Leave More Patients Paying Cash, Epic Finds

Healthcare Dive | Rebecca Pifer Parduhn | September 1, 2026

 

“Patients … are often directed to a higher-priced location for procedures. They are effectively required to buy from their insurers’ specialty or retail pharmacy, which may not stock the drug the doctor prescribes or provide it at the lowest price.”

The Market Forces Quietly Adding Thousands to Patient Bills

CBS News/KFF Health News | Elizabeth Rosenthal | September 1, 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.
 
Our Weekly News Roundup shares news and views about health policy, health equity and healthcare reform (from non-paywalled news sources) 

Our Media page connects you to doctors, advocates and experts in health economics and health policy.

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