Month: July 2026
For decades, Californians have generally said that immigrants, who make up more than a quarter of the state’s population and a third of its labor force, are beneficial to the state and its economy. But budget instability and concerns about rising costs are spilling into a debate over the controversial and expensive policy of allowing low-income immigrants without legal status to ...
California Republicans are turning to the Trump administration to do what they couldn’t in the Legislature: defeat a new tax on health insurers recently approved by Democrats. More than a dozen Assembly Republicans sent a letter Monday to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Centers for Medicare & ...
Jude Pare and his partner, Diane Tix, live in rural Minnesota until temperatures dip below freezing, when they take refuge in Arizona for the winter. While away, their mail is forwarded. But Pare, 77, said he didn’t receive any warning from his Medicare prescription drug plan that his $0 monthly premium was about to increase. ...
CMS Mulls Tougher Medicare Enrollment Rules To Combat Fraud As Part Of 2027 Home Health Payment Rule
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released on Wednesday afternoon its 2027 proposed payment rule for home health agencies. The rule includes an aggregate payment increase of $420 million, or 2.4%, based on a proposed 2.1% payment update and an estimated 0.3% increase related to the fixed dollar loss ratio. That 2.1% payment update ...
When Taletha Washburn and the staff at Plumas Charter School first heard that California wanted to help schools treat more kids struggling with mental health, it felt like a well-timed remedy for a rural community where families struggle to find care. Getting the program funding up and running, however, has proved difficult. Employees spent two ...
The Trump administration has officially launched its new “bridge” model that brings GLP-1 coverage for weight loss to Medicare beneficiaries. Eligible people enrolled in Medicare Part D can secure certain GLP-1 medications for weight loss or management at $50 each month. The program will remain in place through the end of 2027, the Centers for ...
Small businesses added an estimated 32,900 new jobs in June — led by the Health Care and Social Assistance sector — marking the fifth consecutive month of positive net hiring across all sectors, according to the June 2026 Small Business Jobs Report from Gusto, a leading payroll, HR, and benefits platform. The Health Care and Social ...
For 16 years, Larry Gruber, a fitness coach from Wilton Manors, Florida, received a coupon card to help him pay for a psoriatic arthritis medication he needs that costs more than $7,700 a month. Each year, Amgen, which makes the drug, called Enbrel, sent the coupon card worth thousands of dollars, and that counted toward Gruber’s ...
Some hospitals are struggling financially, and some are holding their own, but even stronger health systems need to be looking toward the future. Hospitals are expected to face continuing cost increases in labor and supplies, and Medicaid cuts unfolding over the next several years are going to create more pressures. Joe Kight, head of healthcare ...
New mortality data from the federal government suggests that life expectancy probably hit another record high in 2025, as death rates have continued to fall since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. There were about 689 deaths for every 100,000 people in the US in 2025, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease ...