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Rates for many Affordable Care Act plans rose by double digits this year. Insurers want to do the same next year. Some of the biggest Obamacare companies are seeking hefty premium increases for 2027, often for the second year in a row. In Washington state, Centene is asking for a 28% hike, after boosting rates by 35% in 2026. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois wants 15%—on top of a 28% increase this year. (Wilde Mathews, 7/8)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Affordable Care Act Insurers Want More Premium Increases As Enrollment Sags

For the second year in a row, many Affordable Care Act insurers are proposing double-digit premium increases, driven by rising medical costs as well as policy changes by Congress and the Trump administration. In preliminary filings with state regulators, insurers are seeking a median rate increase of 14% for 2027, according to an analysis of filings in 16 states and the District of Columbia by the Peterson-�������ýҕ�l Health System Tracker. If those rates are ultimately approved, it would be the second-highest increase since 2018. (Spears, 7/8)

A group representing thousands of pharmacies has filed an antitrust suit against Prime Therapeutics, alleging that the company colluded with rival Express Scripts to fix prices. The lawsuit was filed July 2 in Washington federal court by Protecting Access to Retail Pharmacy, LLC, an organization that operates as TRUST, LLC. The group was formed in 2023 by the National Community Pharmacy Association to support pharmacies in investigations and potential litigation to recover controversial direct and indirect remuneration, or DIR, fees from pharmacy benefit managers. (Minemyer, 7/7)

As more people with HIV reach retirement age, the annual cost of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for Medicare for people 65 or older is projected to nearly triple over the next decade, from $6.4 billion in 2026 to $17.8 billion by 2035. Medicare is the federal health insurance program for older Americans and people with disabilities. The analysis, published today in JAMA Network Open, projects that 63% of the cumulative cost to Medicare for older beneficiaries living with HIV will be to pay for ART, which is the lifelong treatment that suppresses the virus to non-detectable levels. Without these antiviral medications, HIV goes from a chronic to a fatal condition. (Boden, 7/7)

Private equity firms are expanding their healthcare reach by forming joint ventures with nonprofit health systems, according to a new report from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP). It's been well reported that private equity has moved to acquire physician groups, specialty practices, nursing homes, and other healthcare entities, but nonprofit joint ventures have gone under the radar, the report suggests. (Clark, 7/7)

Care navigators are helping health systems reduce unnecessary admissions and save money as chronically ill older adults and uninsured patients flood emergency departments. Care navigators are typically nurses embedded in emergency departments who connect patients to less costly outpatient services to avoid hospitalizations. Providers, including St. Louis-based BJC Health System and Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine, have been growing care navigator programs. (Eastabrook, 7/7)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Patients Face A Thicket Of Red Tape Trying To Maintain Consistent Health Coverage

By the time Derion Blackman collapsed in front of a Dollar General in Kissimmee, Florida, in March, he had been waiting two months to regain access to some of the vital medications he’d been taking since undergoing a heart transplant two years ago. “He was on a nasty, dirty ground in front of a store,” recalled Sonja Smith, who is enraged about the circumstances that led to her husband’s heart failure. “He didn’t deserve to die like that.” (Rayasam, 7/8)

Ascension plans to buy Williamson Health, which operates a hospital in Franklin, Tennessee. The Williamson Health board voted Monday to sell to Ascension, which beat out bids from Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare and UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, among other organizations, Williamson Health officials said Monday night during a meeting of the Williamson County Board of Commissioners. Ascension plans to pay $700 million for the independent hospital, clinics and other assets linked to Franklin, Tennessee-based Williamson Health, and spend $250 million on infrastructure upgrades over the next 10 years. (Kacik, 7/7)

Experts on laws protecting patient safety give Washington state high marks for the types of information it is willing to disclose about doctors accused of wrongdoing.Like other states, Washington lets patients look up doctors by name online to read any state allegations against them. But decades ago, Washington lawmakers created a separate pathway that doesn’t leave the homework to patients, mandating that regulators issue a press release whenever an investigation results in formal allegations being filed against a doctor. Washington is alone in legally requiring such proactive outreach to the news media, the Federation of State Medical Boards says. (Hiruko, 7/8)

Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham is preparing for a seven-day strike involving thousands of nurses and clinicians represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Five things to know: The strike involves more than 4,000 nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and about 450 clinicians at MGB Home Care. It would be the largest nurse and healthcare professional strike in Massachusetts history, set to begin July 8, according to the MNA. (Gooch, 7/7)

Health technology companies are shifting their attention to nurses, after years of developing artificial intelligence tools with physicians in mind. Several companies have recognized the best way to launch AI tools nurses will use is to involve them from the start in the development process. Many companies also have nurses on their staff and serving on their leadership teams.In April, clinical documentation company Ambience rolled out Chart Chat for Nursing. The AI tool integrates into a healthcare organization’s electronic health record and allows nurses to ask it questions about a patient’s current status. The tool gathers all the information on one page. (Famakinwa, 7/7)

Trump administration health officials today are launching an effort to encourage hospitals to serve inpatient meals that more closely align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Axios has learned. (Bettelheim and Reed, 7/8)

Those disclaimers in TV drug ads could get longer if the Trump administration makes good on plans to require all safety risks to be disclosed in the ads instead of referring consumers to another source. (Bettelheim, 7/8)

Thousands of federal civil servants who academic researchers see as partners in conducting their work were fired. An unprecedented number of scientific projects funded by previous administrations were terminated. Universities were pressured to abandon diversity programs and work to curb health disparities. On a Friday evening, the government tried to push through a dramatic change to how it reimburses universities for research overhead. (Oza, 7/8)

The incident appears to mark the first deadly shooting by federal immigration officers since Renée Good and Alex Pretti were killed in Minneapolis in January. (Hennessy-Fiske, Nakamura, Hesson and Hernández, 7/7)

When Amy Kussmann, 71, of Slidell, spotted a toddler walking shirtless and barefoot across the grass while she was delivering food on June 25, she exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. “Yes!” she exclaimed. Moments before, she was concerned that his absence meant something was wrong with the boy’s family to whom she was delivering the food — a concern that was heightened after a volunteer ran into the food-delivery staging room of the First United Methodist Church of Slidell earlier that day, shaken by rumors of a recent arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement nearby. (Stewart, 7/7)

As some have scrutinized the comprehensive Take Care of America's Veterans Act and called for sections to be modified or removed altogether, nearly two dozen veterans service organizations are "urging" Congress to move swiftly and enact the legislation as written. U.S. House and Senate lawmakers continue to debate the TCAVA and its more than 60 bill provisions that include the Major Richard Star Act, the Love Lives On Act, caregiver program reforms, Department of Veterans Affairs modernization initiatives and combat-injured veteran expansions. Drafted legislation also includes proposals to strengthen mental health support, improve spinal cord injury care and prosthetic services, expand resources for survivors and families, and advance services for women veterans. (Mordowanec, 7/7)

One of the most-watched House races in the country is setting the stage for how Democrats and Republicans will battle over federal health care cuts on the campaign trail. Swing seat GOP Rep. Mike Lawler, facing a tough reelection campaign against a moderate Democratic opponent, is being bombarded by attacks over his vote for President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package, which cut Medicaid spending by nearly $1 trillion over a decade. (Cordero and Reisman, 7/8)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called on the Trump administration to withdraw some proposed changes to the federal grantmaking process, joining a growing chorus of opposition to a sweeping new proposal from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Collins on Monday sent a letter to OMB Director Russell Vought asking the agency to withdraw portions of the rule that she said would potentially harm small and rural communities and add uncertainty to scientific and biomedical research. (Weixel, 7/7)

There was a national reckoning after the 2024 presidential campaign about federal officials — Joe Biden and his White House, specifically — hiding important health information from the public. But the hiding hasn’t stopped. If anything, it appears to be getting worse. (Blake, 7/7)

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there are now four cases of infant botulism illnesses from three states, up from three last month. The new case is in California. California now has two cases, while Pennsylvania and Washington state each have one. (Soucheray, 7/7)

Doctors described treating brain and abdominal hemorrhages in infants who hadn’t received the routine injection. Several said the images of those patients were seared in their minds. (Astor, 7/8)

A considerable proportion of younger adolescents may be unaware of the dangers of fentanyl use, according to a cross-sectional survey study. Among the adolescents surveyed, 47.8% of 8th graders attributed great risk to experimental use of fentanyl, while 57.2% and 66.5% attributed great risk to occasional or regular use, respectively, reported Richard Miech, PhD, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues in JAMA Network Open. (Firth, 7/7)

In five states with high rates of alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), nearly one in four adults test positive for antibodies associated with the condition, according to a study published last week in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The findings suggest that the presence of the molecule that triggers AGS may be far more common than the syndrome itself. (Bergeson, 7/7)

A homegrown catnip lotion has proven “just as effective as Deet” as a mosquito repellant in trials carried out in Uganda. Catnip, or Nepeta cataria, is a common herb from the mint family. The chemical in the plant that causes feline euphoria – nepetalactone – also has insect-repelling properties but this has not previously been commercialised. (Lay, 7/7)

Even a few years of healthier eating and exercise can show up in better health outcomes two decades later, a new national study  found — but most people need significant support to make those changes. (Wingerter, 7/7)

When Isabella Banos’s anxiety gets triggered, she tends to pick at her fingers and break the skin. So Banos, who works in communications, has started to “carry a magnetic ball fidget toy so I don’t,” she said. She also totes lavender oil, a portable fan, a rosary and sour candies in a small bag she takes everywhere. This kind of carryall has become known to her and others as a “panic pouch.” (Valdesolo, 7/7)

Boston University researchers diagnosed former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who died in November 2025 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, with Stage 1 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the Concussion & CTE Foundation announced Tuesday. Police officers found Kneeland dead in the early-morning hours of Nov. 6, 2025, in Frisco, Texas. He was 24 years old. (Bardahl, 7/7)

While scanning social media, Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, MPH, noticed a lot of people talking about gastrointestinal symptoms in the Seattle area, one of the North America host cities during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. “We’re like, ‘Oh that’s weird. There’s an uptick of people chattering about this,’” Jetelina, the CEO of Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE), told CIDRAP News. “We gave that to the wastewater people at HSCO [Health Security Operations Center], and lo and behold, there was a very big spike of adenovirus around the Seattle area. Then we handed that over to the local and the state public health departments.” (Holohan, 7/7)

The healthcare workers at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are walking off their jobs to protest delays in their payments, threatening efforts to slow the outbreak that officials said continues to spread faster than the response. In Ituri province, the hardest hit among the three provinces in eastern Congo affected by the outbreak, some of the health professionals and other front-line workers told The Associated Press they’ve not been paid their wages and bonuses since the outbreak was declared on May 15. They also alleged they were working with limited gear, and were being treated unfairly by authorities as well as response teams. (Heri Ngorora, 7/8)

It's been over 50 days since the Ebola outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Clinicians on the ground are working to save dying patients, but they lack crucial tools to fight the kind of Ebola that's spreading. "We urgently need treatments that can help people affected by Bundibugyo virus disease," says Amanda Rojek, a physician scientist at the University of Oxford — that's a rarer species of Ebola than the much-researched Zaire strain behind many previous outbreaks. (Lambert, 7/7)

Annual cancer cases are projected to rise considerably worldwide by 2050, according to a World Health Organization report on cancer published Wednesday. With its assessment, the United Nations body tempered optimism about improvements in cancer surveillance and treatment and warned that global health care inequities are driving further cases and deaths. (Wu, 7/8)

Germany recorded more than 5,000 excess deaths during the late-June heat wave, according to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office. In the last full week of June, 5,486 more deaths were recorded than the 2022–2025 median, according to data from the office, which is also known as Destatis. The weekend that closed out the period coincided with the peak of the heat wave, when the temperature reached a national record of 41.7C (107.1F). Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is expected to publish its estimate of heat-related deaths later this week. (Brendel, 7/7)

Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) is reporting a new case of variant H9N2 avian flu H9N2 in a 1-year-old girl from Guangdong province. The girl first had symptoms on June 12. There is no further information provided on her current status. (Soucheray, 7/7)

The law limits teaching on race, gender and other topics. Part of the law related to colleges was struck down. It remains in effect in K-12 schools. (Patel, 7/7)

Faced with an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the Mamdani administration said on Tuesday that it was adopting new tactics to try to stamp out clusters of the bacterial illness more quickly. ... The measures rolled out Tuesday would publicly identify buildings suspected of being sources of Legionnaires’ disease and require the structures’ owners to swiftly clean cooling towers. (Goldstein, 7/7)

State lawmakers are exploring prohibiting foreign nationals from using Texas surrogates, elevating a niche fertility issue into a larger battle over immigration and birthright citizenship, surrogacy experts say. (Ma, 7/7)

Since the 2024 election, a nonprofit has helped 1,500 trans people settle in Seattle — more than 20 times the 70 people it aided before the election. (Parks, 7/7)

The new state law requires teachers to disclose any information requested by parents about their child, with some exceptions, effectively overriding a New Hampshire Supreme Court decision. (DeWitt, 7/7)

Utah has revoked the license of a boarding school where Paris Hilton said she was abused as a teenager, saying the school has “failed to provide applicable health and safety services for clients.” The state’s action, which took effect Monday, cites multiple noncompliance issues against the Provo Canyon School’s campus in Springville. The school has 15 days to request a hearing before the Department of Health & Human Services. (McCormack, 7/7)

Investigators on Tuesday released findings on the fatal police shooting of Alex LaMorie, who had called for help after facing an extortion scam. (Golden and Benn Jr., 7/7)

An Indiana woman signed a plea deal Tuesday admitting she bought the gun that ended up in a deadly Chicago Police shooting at Swedish Hospital, filings show. Olivia Burgos, 23, of La Porte, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in Hammond to Making a False Statement in Connection with the Acquisition of a Firearm. She faces up to 10 years in prison. However, federal prosecutors are expected to ask for a far lower, or minimum sentence. (Colias-Pete, 7/7)

When Bobby and Sandy Marshall moved from Florida to southeast Missouri three years ago, they landed in what Bobby called a “medical desert” with fewer resources. Access to care was critical as Bobby lives with early onset and atypical dementia. (Nozicka, 7/8)

Since 2014, the Diaper Bank of North Carolina has given out more than 3 million period supplies to schools across the state. When the nonprofit first started giving out tampons, sanitary pads and other items, the term “period poverty” was not used much in the United States, said founder and CEO Michelle Schaefer. (Fernandez, 7/8)

The number of people injecting themselves with or taking an oral version of the new class of weight-loss drugs continues to rise dramatically. A Gallup poll released Tuesday based on a web survey of 5,065 U.S. adults says that 15 percent of U.S. adults reported using GLP-1 medications to lose weight at some point, while 11 percent say they currently are taking them. That’s up from a Gallup poll in 2024 that found 6 percent had ever taken them, and 3 percent were currently on the therapy. (Rowland, 7/7)

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a new medicine from the biotech company Vera Therapeutics for patients with a type of chronic autoimmune kidney disease. (Feuerstein, 7/7)

An investigational vaccine candidate for Shigella provided high-level protection in a phase 2 clinical trial, researchers reported last week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 7/7)

You get a CGM, you get a CGM, everybody gets a CGM? For the first time in the United States, children 2 and older can also get a continuous glucose monitor without a doctor’s prescription. Is that a good thing? The Food and Drug Administration thinks so. (Chan, 7/8)

The charges for most of the people carry sentences of up to 12.5 years in prison, officials said, and the police have recommended more charges for a separate attempt in April. (Rubin, 7/7)

After Doug met Jane, he felt good. So too did Gabriella, his wife. Doug — a retired minister and writer — needed someone to talk to, and in conversation about his many accomplishments, Jane was indefatigable. For at least a few hours, Doug’s boredom vanished, and Gabriella no longer felt like an activities director on a cruise ship. (Jason Karlawish, 7/8)

Winning a Nobel Peace Prize could finally be within reach for President Trump. Quick action to arrest the spread of Ebola through Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, with 1,561 confirmed cases and counting, might be exactly what he needs to persuade the Nobel Committee in his favor.  (Benjamin L. Sievers, 7/7)

A cardiologist reviews an echocardiogram flagged by an algorithm she did not choose, trained on data she has never seen, deployed by a health system that did not ask for her input. The algorithm recommends a diagnosis. She disagrees. She overrides it. The patient does well. (Afnan R. Tariq and Ami Bhatt, 7/8)

Behind closed doors, millions of Americans are stepping into one of the hardest roles they’ll ever take on: caring for their aging parents. (Amada Su and Emily Holzknecht, 7/8)

A secret shopper survey conducted by researchers at Yale University and published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association offers an alarming, if unsurprising, glimpse into the world of telehealth purveyors of GLP-1 medicines. It confirms what doctors have worried about for years: The popular obesity drugs are being cavalierly prescribed. It should be yet another wake-up call for regulators. (Lisa Jarvis, 7/6)