Last week, the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare released survey results about escalating health costs placing blame squarely on ‘corporate health insurers’. The American Hospital Association, a founding member of the Coalition, reported “A survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare, found that 47% of voters believe corporate health insurers are the primary driver of rising healthcare costs, followed by the federal government at 36% and drug companies at 34%.” (AHA June 13, 2026).
The survey results support their premise: ‘corporate insurance companies’ polled at least 30% below hospitals on measures of trust and favorability and blame for rising costs toward hospitals less than half as intense as feelings toward “corporate insurers.”
| Corporate Insurance
Companies |
Drug
Companies |
Hospitals | Pharmacy Benefits Managers | Doctors &
Medical Providers |
Nurses | |
| 1-Impression | 45% | 43% | 79% | 45% | 84% | 87% |
| 2-Trust | 43% | 44% | 76% | 44% | 84% | 87% |
| 3-Costs | 47% | 34% | 20% | 17% | 10% |
1-Please rate your overall impression of …% Very/Somewhat Favorable
2-How much do you trust each of the following to act in your best interest when it comes to healthcare…% A great deal/fair amount
3-When you think about why healthcare costs keep rising in the United States, which of the following do you hold most responsible? Please select up to two
However, the reality is different, at least in the recent past. In the government’s latest CPI report for May 2026, health insurance prices in the last 12 months were down -0.1% while. hospital prices were up 0.6% (well below all-items +4.2%). Nonetheless, the public’s opinion about health insurance is unfavorable. Reaction to UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson’s murder in NYC December 4, 2024 surfaced animosity toward the sector surprising to most.
Thus, The Coalition is betting that the hospital good will differential (above) contrast to antipathy toward insurers is worth exploiting with voters and Congress. And, by using “corporate” as the descriptor, it connotes big business which does not enjoy public trust and confidence (per Gallup). This intent was obvious in the Morning Consult questionnaire which did not use the term with other sectors. For the coalition and its backers, however, the gambit is risky.
Corporatization in healthcare is major concern to regulators, voters and elected officials. Corporate insurers are on their radars, especially for coding miscues, prior authorization practices, surprise bills and more. But they’re not alone.
Hospitals and health systems are also a popular corporatization target. Congressional Committees and Governors in several states are blaming hospital consolidation for compressed competition, higher costs and limitations on employee wages. Via public hearings, they’re showcasing excesses in executive compensation, for-profit ventures funded by not-for-profit operators, lack of price transparency and excess profitability among top grievances.
And the irony is not lost that just two weeks ago (June 2), the American Hospital Association issued its “Affordability Blueprint” observing that “hospitals cannot solve affordability alone. It will require everyone — drug companies, commercial insurers, suppliers, government, patients and others — to fix our outdated system.” Was collaboration with “corporate insurers” envisioned?
The Coalition’s survey is notable in its specific attention to “corporate insurers” and its timing: Congress and CMS are putting final touches on the FY27 federal budget, states are managing cuts to Medicaid and new work requirements and campaign 2026 looms.
Every hospital and insurer—whether not for profit or investor owned, independent or affiliated, large or small—is impacted by growing hostility toward corporatization in healthcare. How organizations respond will determine the ultimate transformation of the system.
Paul
PS Methodologies used by pollsters vary widely. Often, sponsors seek the answers they want thru sample design, questionnaire construction and data analysis. It’s a coincidence that last week, the AMA House of Delegates passed a resolution to “fund independent, academically rigorous studies performing comparative effectiveness analyses of patient outcomes between autonomous non-physician practitioners and physician-led (MD/DO or foreign equivalent) care models.” Objective polling is vital to understanding attitudes and underlying beliefs important to healthcare’s future.
Quotables
American Enterprise Institute: the shrinking middle class: “The hollowing out of the middle class has become a common narrative throughout American politics and among voters. While the traditional middle class has shrunk, that is not because Americans are uniformly growing poorer. the upper-middle class has grown and that, as the “core” middle class has shrunk, so have the classes below the middle. In short, the middle class has shrunk because a large chunk of it got wealthier.
In 2024, 31% of families were in the middle class, compared with 36% in 1979. However, over that same period, the upper-middle class grew to comprise 31% of families from only 10%, and the number of Americans falling short of the middle class dropped to 35% of all families from more than half.”
Health Affairs on ageism: “The aging of the US population is one of the most significant demographic shifts in the last century. Public health and medical advances have dramatically increased the average life span of US residents from about 54 years in 1920 to more than 78 years in 2023. Those who reach the age of 65 can expect to live another 19 years. Longer life spans, and millions of aging baby boomers born in the period 1946–64 who began turning 65 in 2011, have increased the share of the US population who are ages 65 and older to 17% in 2020, which is about double the number seen in 1950. This share is projected to rise to 23% by 2050.”
Confronting Ageism as A Driver of Health Inequity | Health Affairs
NYT on CPI: “The latest gauge of the Consumer Price Index, released on Wednesday, showed that goods overall became more expensive last month, rising 4.2% compared with a year earlier. That marked the fastest pace since April 2023, and as a result, offered renewed evidence that prices are rising faster than Americans’ wages.
The acceleration largely stemmed from the war with Iran, which has snarled the world’s energy supply, sending oil and gas costs soaring as a result. That, in turn, has made travel and shipping more expensive, pushing up the price of many products, including some groceries.”
White House shrugs off high prices amid war with Iran.
Burda on competition in physician markets: “In theory, and in reality, as experienced by patients everywhere, consumers have less choice of who to see for what in highly concentrated markets, and they have to wait longer to see that medical specialist for whatever ails them.
As it turns out, 100% of the markets for six medical specialties were highly concentrated in 2018. That means those specialties had some but not much competition from others in the same specialty. The six specialties were: critical care (intensivists), geriatric medicine, hematology/oncology, interventional cardiology, radiation oncology and rheumatology…
The larger takeaway, again, is that healthcare is an industry like any other industry. Businesses in healthcare, like physician practices, are like businesses in any other industry. They all respond and react the same way to the same economic incentives and market dynamics.
If we want to build better healthcare, fix the economic incentives and market dynamics.”
Making Sense of the Physician Market – 4sight Health
Politico on AMA Politics: “American doctors want their leading lobby to drop its nice guy routine with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
At the American Medical Association’s annual meeting this week, members of the group’s House of Delegates are sending a clear message to their leaders: Call out Kennedy, even if it costs us in the pocketbook.
That message was stated most clearly in the election of Sandra Fryhofer, an internist from Atlanta and uncompromising Kennedy critic, as AMA president-elect. She beat Michael Suk, who as AMA board chair in 2024 and 2025 prioritized doctors’ Medicare fees and promised continued pragmatism in dealing with Kennedy.”
America’s doctors just voted for war with RFK Jr. – POLITICO
Rosenbaum et al on new CMS’ Medical Frailty rule: “As written, the medical frailty rule not only departs from the law on which it is based but seriously endangers the health of low-income working-age adults. This is especially the case for adults at the older end of the working-age spectrum, who are significantly more likely to face serious health burdens. Furthermore, the rule lacks any considered analysis regarding what it will take to prove the existence of its unlawful definition, despite the fact that all rules must reflect reasoned judgment. Notably, the rule considers neither the health of millions of people with serious health conditions nor the burden on the health care system itself. Specifically, it ignores the health care safety net providers that not only will be called on to conduct medical evaluations but furthermore, are not trained to conduct the type of evaluations that the medical frailty definition now demands.”
Economy
BLS CPI report for May, 2026: “The latest gauge of the Consumer Price Index, released on Wednesday, showed that goods overall became more expensive last month, rising 4.2% compared with a year earlier. That marked the fastest pace since April 2023, and as a result, offered renewed evidence that prices are rising faster than Americans’ wages… That is up from a 2.4% annual increase before the conflict in the Middle East started in February and is the fastest pace since April 2023. Over the course of the month, overall prices jumped 0.5” Highlights:
“Energy prices drove the bulk of the increase in May, rising 3.9% over the month. Once those were stripped out alongside food prices, the “core” index rose 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Core prices rose 0.2% for the month, a 0.2 percentage point decrease from April’s monthly rate.
The main factor keeping a lid on prices: consumers, who have by now spent their tax refunds and have lately seen smaller increases in their paychecks. Annual increases in average hourly earnings have now fallen behind inflation for two months in a row. If some categories are not accelerating, it could be because shoppers simply lack the ability to pay more.
The medical care index increased 0.3 percent in May, after falling 0.1% in April. The index for hospital services increased 0.7% over the month. Conversely, the prescription drugs index decreased 0.9% over the month while the physicians’ services index was unchanged in May. “
| May 2026 | Unadjusted LTM | Weight | |
| All Items | 0.5 | 4.2 | 100% |
| Food | 0.2 | 3.1 | 13.5% |
| Energy | 3.9 | 23.5 | 7.5% |
| All Items less Food, Energy | 0.2 | 2.9 | 18.9% |
| Shelter | 0.6 | 0.3 | 35.2% |
| Medical care commodities | -0.7 | -1.8% | 1.4% |
| Prescription Drugs
Non-Prescription Drugs Medical Equipment & Supplies |
0.0
-.16 -0.9 |
-0.9
-0.8 0.0 |
.93
.37 .13 |
| Medical care services | 0.0 | 0.5 | 6.83 |
| Professional Services
Physician Services Dentist Services |
0.0
0.6 -0,3 |
0.5
0.0 1.9 |
3.40
1.67 0.90 |
| Hospital & Related Services | -0.3 | 0.6 | 2.60 |
| Hospitals
Nursing homes Home health |
-0.3
-0.1 -0.2 |
0.6
0.5 0.4 |
2.10
.23 .22 |
| Health Insurance | 0.4 | –0.1 | 8.33% |
Consumer Price Index News Release June 10, 2026
Social Security and Medicare Trustees Message to the Public (June 13, 2026): “As in prior years, we found that the Social Security and Medicare programs both continue to face significant financing issues The projected long-term finances of the combined OASDI fund worsened this year primarily due to three factors. First, the assumed ultimate total fertility rate was lowered from 1.90 children per woman to 1.75 children per woman. Second, estimated historical and assumed near-term and ultimate net total immigration are lower this year. These two demographic changes lowered the projected number of workers, projected taxable pay- roll, and projected GDP over the long range. Third, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), as enacted on July 4, 2025, makes permanent the lower ordinary income tax rates and adjusted tax brackets originally passed under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and both increases and makes permanent the larger standard deduction of the 2017 Act. The OBBBA also adds a temporary additional standard deduction for taxpayers over age 65. As a result of these provisions, the OASI and DI Trust Funds will receive lower levels of revenue in the future from income taxation of Social Security benefits.
The projected long-term finances of the HI Trust Fund worsened this year due to higher assumed utilization of some provider services, upward revisions to assumed average Medicare Advantage per capita expenditures, and lower revenue projected to be received from income taxation of Social Security benefits due to the enactment of the OBBBA…
Lower GDP projections over the long range contribute to higher SMI expenditures as a share of GDP relative to last year’s report. The other reasons for changes in SMI trust fund projections relative to last year’s report differ between Parts B and D…
For Part D, expenditures as a share of GDP are projected to be significantly higher than in last year’s report in all years of the projection. This is mainly due to increased utilization of certain specialty drugs in 2025, combined with higher drug cost trends and lower projected pharmacy and drug manufacturer rebates over the first 10 years of the projection…”
Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs A SUMMARY OF THE 2026 ANNUAL REPORTS https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TRSUM/tr26summary.pdf?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosvitals&stream=top
Data centers: “More than 175 new data-center permits were issued in 2025, the highest annual total since permit records began in 1976. If all 1,416 data centers built or in construction through 2025 come online, the electricity needed to power them would be roughly 50% higher than for facilities permitted the year before.”
US Data Center Power Use Set to Jump 50%: Business Insider Analysis – Business Insider
Employers
Mercer: U.S. company 2027 employee health costs: “Two-thirds of large companies expect to raise monthly premiums for employee health coverage through paycheck deductions in 2027, according to a survey of businesses with at least 500 employees by benefits consultancy Mercer. And about half (48%) of employers say they will make other changes, such as raising deductibles and copays, that will increase how much workers’ pay out of pocket for care.
It isn’t just employees who will be paying more. Health insurers are raising costs for employers, too, with the cost of group plans set to increase by more than 6% for the fourth year in a row…. Annual increases previously hovered around 3% for more than a decade…This year, employers expect to pay more than $18,500 per employee for health care benefits, a 6.7% increase from 2025 and the biggest jump in 15 years….
27% of employers tightened the criteria to cover these drugs in 2026 or 2027, according to the Mercer survey, while another 5% are considering dropping them from their plans altogether.”
Mercer https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/mercer-survey-employers-eye-cost-shifting-strategies-health-benefit-spend-rises
EU Pay Transparency Directive at a glance: The EU is implementing a new pay transparency directive applicable to companies with 100+ employees. Details:
- All EU member states must transpose Directive (EU) 2023/970 by June 2026; timing and scope will vary by country.
- Employees and applicants gain rights to information on individual pay, averages by comparator groups, and pay‑setting criteria.
- Employers may need to disclose pay ranges for vacancies and must not ask applicants about pay history.
- Unexplained gender pay gaps ≥ 5% in comparable groups can trigger joint pay assessments.
- Inclusion of mobile employees depends on EU employing legal entity, payroll ownership, contractual arrangements and other national laws.
pdf-2026-mercer-the-eu-pay-transparency-directive.pdf
Hospitals
Hoffman on hospital wage index: “The hospital wage index standardizes Medicare hospital payments for labor cost differences, paying otherwise equivalent hospitals more when they operate in areas with higher labor costs than in areas with lower labor costs. However, because of a plethora of exceptions, labor costs are commonly disconnected from the originally assigned wage index, and policy makers have expressed concerns that exceptions are not justified. Using publicly available wage index and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services impact files, we found that wage index exceptions increased by nearly 60% from 2016 to 2024 and were highly prevalent, with more than 70% of hospitals receiving exceptions by 2024 (compared with 46% in 2016). Growth was disproportionate across states and hospital types. Two exceptions—geographic reclassifications and rural floor adjustments—increased annual hospital revenues by an average of $650,000 and $930,000, respectively. Growth in costly exceptions distorts wage index accuracy and impedes the policy’s intended goal of calibrating payments to actual labor costs.”
Medicare’s Hospital Wage Index Exceptions Grew By Nearly 60% From 2016 To 2024 | Health Affairs
AHA, hospital trade groups challenge wage index: “In public comment letters submitted this week, the industry associations and other provider-adjacent organizations told CMS that the 2.4% net pay bump proposed in April’s Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule offers scant support for hospitals staring down substantial financial headwinds.
The groups took issue with both components of the proposed 2.4% increase: a 3.2% annual market basket update that the American Hospital Association (AHA) said was “not keeping pace with real-world cost growth”, and a statutory 0.8 percentage point productivity adjustment that the AHA said has long proven to be “a poor fit” for measuring anticipated productivity within healthcare.
The Federation of American Hospitals (FAH), which represents more than 1,000 for-profit hospitals, noted that CMS’ cumulative IPPS rate updates have been 4.2 percentage points behind cumulative inflation since the 2021 fiscal year, “a gap that compounds year over year” and should be corrected with more timely inflationary data plus a forecast error correction policy.
Premier and Vizient, which both provide analytics and other services to hospital customers, called for CMS to conduct a court-ordered transition away from its increased wage index for low-wage hospitals in a manner that does not budget neutral (in other words, does not pull funds from all other hospitals).
But beyond the pay changes, chief on hospital groups’ minds is CMS’ proposal to expand the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) Model. The payment model—tested from April 2016 to 2024 with “significant” savings and care quality, per CMS—holds hospitals responsible for government spending on Medicare patients’ joint replacement surgeries, hospital stays, and the first 90 days of recovery, including follow-up care.”
Hospitals push for higher 2027 pay bump, mandatory model delay
CMS issues New Rule for Accrediting Organization Oversight: “The Final Rule with comment period includes the following changes to CMS’ AO requirements, which align with CMS’ National Quality Strategy: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality/meaningful-measures-initiative/cms-quality-strategy Details:
- Holding AOs accountable to the same Medicare standardsand strengthening comparability of survey processes to those of SAs that also conduct surveys on behalf of CMS.
- Ensuring that AOs remain independent reviewers by addressing conflicts of interest and placing certain limitations on the fee-based consulting services AOs provide to the healthcare facilities they accredit.
- Preventing AO conflicts of interest by prohibiting AO owners, surveyors, and other employees, as well as their immediate family members that have an interest in or relationship with a healthcare facility accredited by the AO, from participating in surveys, having input into the survey results and involvement in pre- or post-survey activities of that facility, and from having access to survey records related to that facility.
- Improving AO performance by requiring AOs with unacceptable performance measure scores, determined through a direct observation validation survey by CMS (a new process for monitoring AO performance established as a requirement in this rule), to submit a publicly reported correction plan to CMS.
- Improving consistency and standardization in surveys nationwide by more closely aligning AO survey activity requirements and staff training with those of SAs.
Currently, CMS has approved 9 AOs to survey and accredit Medicare-certified facilities for deeming purposes.
Strengthening CMS Oversight of Accrediting Organizations | CMS June 12, 2026
Price transparency violations: “The Trump administration has sent warning letters to 519 hospitals nationwide citing them for failing to provide transparent pricing information, the Associated Press reported June 9.
The AP exclusively received a list of hospitals that have either received warning letters or requests to submit plans to provide transparency pricing since April. A senior administration official who requested anonymity told the news outlet that President Donald Trump plans to ramp up price transparency enforcement and more hospitals are likely to receive letters for failure to comply.”
Trump administration warns over 500 hospitals to provide more price information or face fines https://apnews.com/article/trump-hospital-prices-healthcare-affordability-313817c2ba73f1a3f4055ecde27b82be
AMA approves new maternity care billing codes: “The American Medical Association last week approved a new set of maternity care billing codes, replacing the obstetric bundled payment model with a framework allows granular reporting of care across four distinct phases:
- Antepartum Care – Outpatient and inpatient visits, now reported using evaluation and management (E/M) codes tailored to patient needs, including telehealth and modified visit schedules
- Labor Management – A new category covering clinical decision-making, monitoring, and management of labor, including complications such as preeclampsia, diabetes, or abnormal fetal heart tracings. Codes are reported per calendar date, with separate codes for initial and subsequent days of labor management
- Delivery Care – Vaginal and cesarean delivery services are reported separately, reflecting the complexity and intensity of the delivery process
- Postpartum Care – Inpatient and outpatient postpartum visits are now coded individually, rather than bundled with delivery or antepartum care
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is expected to propose reimbursement amounts for the new codes next month and finalize them in November ahead of a planned Jan. 1, 2027 implementation.”
CPT® 2027 Maternity Care Services code changes | American Medical Association
Insurers
PWC insurer actuary survey: PWC interviewed 27 health insurers that cover 103 million employer-sponsored members and 8 million Affordable Care Act enrollees to forecast healthcare inflation. Findings:
“Health plans expect the cost of treating patients to climb in 2027 as five inflators increase medical cost trend to 9%:
- AI-enabled tools help providers capture more revenue.
- Inflation and provider consolidation drive up reimbursement rates.
- Pharmacy costs continue to increase.
- Behavioral health utilization keeps growing as mental health claims rise.
- The No Surprises Act arbitration process adds a new source of out-of-network reimbursement.
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/health-industries/library/behind-the-numbers.html
HHS OIG Report: Medicare Advantage Organization (MAO) Prior Auth Activity: “OIG identified denials of prior authorization requests for post-acute care after a hospital stay as a particular area of concern. This report shines new light on variation in denial and overturn rates of requests for admission to long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) and inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), which provide therapeutic and rehabilitative care to patients after an illness or injury.
What OIG Found
“Among the 19 MAOs in this review, the 3 largest MAOs (CVS, United, Humana) by enrollment denied prior authorization requests for care in LTCHs and IRFs at higher rates than most of their peers in June 2024.
When enrollees appealed, MAOs collectively overturned 36% of LTCH denials and 43% of IRF denials, indicating that some enrollees were initially denied medically necessary care. Some MAOs had much higher overturn rates than their peers. For example, IRF overturn rates ranged by MAO from 14% to 86%.
In some cases, high denial rates were driven by contractors that denied prior authorization requests on behalf of the MAOs, many of which were later overturned on appeal by the MAO. This raises concerns about whether contractors are receiving appropriate training and oversight from MAOs.”
HHS OIG Reports ‘Concerning’ Medicare Advantage Denials
Polling
AHA Poll: Opinions about “Corporate Insurance”: Morning Consult surveyed 2002 Registered Voters online May 22-24, 2026 on behalf of the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare.
Highlights:
| Corporate Insurance
Companies |
Drug
Companies |
Hospitals | Pharmacy Benefits Managers | Doctors &
Medical Providers |
Nurses | |
| 1-Impression | 45% | 43% | 79% | 45% | 84% | 87% |
| 2-Trust | 43% | 44% | 76% | 44% | 84% | 87% |
| 3-Costs | 47% | 34% | 20% | 17% | 10% |
1-Please rate your overall impression of …% Very/Somewhat Favorable
2-How much do you trust each of the following to act in your best interest when it comes to healthcare…% A great deal/fair amount
3-When you think about why healthcare costs keep rising in the United States, which of the following do you hold most responsible? Please select up to two
Most serious problem facing U.S. system today: Top 3 Mentions from 8 choices below:
- Health insurance premiums and deductibles are too expensive: 47% of mentions
- Corporate health insurance companies denying or delaying coverage for recommended treatments: 40% of mentions
- Prescription drug prices are too high: 40% of mentions
- Patients being required to navigate complex insurance requirements to receive care their doctor ordered: 28% of mentions
- Bureaucracy in the health care system: 23% of mentions
- Surprise medical bills: 18% of mentions
- Hospitals and health systems closing or reducing services in my community: 15% of mentions
- Difficulty finding or keeping doctors who accept my insurance: 13% of mentions
If Congress were to prioritize reforming one part of the U.S. healthcare system this year, which would you most want them to focus on? (Unaided in order of mention)
- Protecting Medicare, a program serving individuals aged 65 and over, and Social Security from cuts 22%
- Lowering the cost of hospital care and medical services 19%
- Bringing more accountability to health insurance company practices, including claim denials and prior authorization delays in care 17%
- Lowering prescription drug prices 9%
- Reducing medical debt for Americans who can’t afford their bills 7%
- Preventing cuts to Medicaid, a program serving primarily low-income populations, including children, adults, seniors and disabled individuals 17%
- Addressing the shortage of doctors and nurses in underserved communities 4%
Coalition National Survey May 29, 2026
Harvard Chan poll: trust in CDC, health agencies: Per the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and de Beaumont Foundation’s Public Health Listening Lab poll of 2,205 U.S. adults poll conducted March 19 to April 1, 2026:
- 50% of the public says they trust health recommendations from the CDC, down from 77 % in spring 2025.
- State and local health departments are now substantially more trusted than federal agencies, even as the public trust in those institutions also declined. Between 2025 and 2026, trust in state public health agencies dropped from 80% to 66%while trust in local public health agencies dropped from 82% to 70%.
- Top public concerns include a 68% agreement that agency recommendations were too influenced by leaders’ personal beliefs. A similar number said agencies were focused too much on the wrong priorities…
- On vaccines, the poll found there is still strong majority support for routine childhood vaccination requirements.
- More than three-quarters of the public, including majorities of both parties, said that parents should be required to vaccinate their children in order to attend school, which has been nearly the same since the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 89% said childhood vaccines were either very safe or somewhat safe. But that percentage was a drop from 94% during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022. Food policy continues to be of the more popular MAHA initiatives.
Poll: Trust in federal health agencies dropped sharply during Trump’s first year June 9, 2026https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5915160-partisan-cdc-trust-poll-findings/
HMA: Medicaid Poll: “A new 50-state poll of 1,974 Medicaid enrollees from The Health Management Academy found a massive awareness gap between what’s been signed into law and what enrollees actually know.
- Work requirements become a condition of Medicaid eligibility in January 2027, yet 55% of enrollees are completely unaware. Another 27% have only vague awareness and don’t know the details.
- 85% of enrollees have no idea that eligibility redeterminations will happen every six months instead of annually
- Among enrollees with chronic conditions, 62% say they would ration their medication if they lost coverage, and 58% would stop filling at least one prescription
- The prescriptions enrollees say they’d drop first: mental health medications (25%), blood pressure and cholesterol meds (22%), and diabetes medications (17%)
- Despite the changes, one in three enrollees still believe they will “definitely” maintain eligibility in January 2027.”
Health Management Academy https://hmacademy.com/blog/medicaid-enrollee-awareness-survey-2026
Federal Reserve: Financial wellbeing: In 2025, 28% of US adults reported being worse off financially than the previous year vs. 23% “better off” –similar to 2024, when 29% of adults reported being worse off, and down from 35% in 2022.
- The share of Americans who say they are doing okay or better financially has remained near 73% since 2022, down from a recent high of 78% in 2021.
- Price increases were the top financial challenge among adults last year, with 91% reporting them as a concern. Saving for retirement was the second most common challenge: 72% of Americans reported it as a concern.
- 86% of people with at least a bachelor’s degree reported doing at least okay, compared to 64% of people with high school diplomas or GEDs and 41% of people who didn’t finish high school.
- Over the 13 years of available data, Asian adults consistently reported the highest rate of financial security, followed by white adults. Black and Hispanic adults reported the lowest rates.
How are Americans doing financially? https://usafacts.org/articles/how-are-americans-doing-financially
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) on nutrition, exercise: This PCRM poll was conducted on May 26th – May 27th 2026, among 2,200 U.S. Adults among the general population. The interviews were conducted online. Highlights:
- Most U.S. adults are aware that getting 150 minutes of exercise weekly, eating a plant-based diet, increasing fiber consumption, and eating beans decreases the risk of developing high cholesterol.
- Adults are most likely to obtain this information from health care professionals. However, 1-in-5 adults have never received information on the link between nutrition and high cholesterol. After learning that processed meats increase the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, over 6-in-10 U.S. adults support a warning label on processed meats about the risk of high cholesterol.
- Additionally, over half of U.S. adults are willing to try a plant-based diet if they had high cholesterol or wanted to reduce their risk of high cholesterol
High Cholesterol Poll PCRM-High-Cholesterol-Poll-5.29.26.pptx
Prescription Drugs
Mercer: Employer coverage of GLP-1s: “Coverage for Ozempic and other drugs used for weight loss has fast become one of the most coveted workplace benefits—so much so that companies say they can no longer afford to provide it.
With as many as one in eight American adults taking the pills or injectables now, big employers from Cigna to PricewaterhouseCoopers are dropping coverage of so-called GLP-1s in droves. Others, like Chevron, are making workers jump through extra hoops to get coverage—and to ensure the drugs are used effectively—such as requiring multiple weigh-ins a month, meal-tracking on apps or sessions with an online health coach.
More than a quarter of big companies say they are adding criteria this year or next, while 11% have dropped or are planning to drop coverage for weight-loss purposes altogether, according to soon-to-be released data from benefits-advisory firm Mercer.
Globally, the number of companies covering GLP-1s for weight loss has fallen to 23% this year from 30% in 2024, a new survey of more than 400 companies by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans shows.”
Your Weight-Loss Drugs Are Next on the Corporate Chopping Block – WSJ
NYT on GLP-1 use: “While these drugs were first approved to treat diabetes, and then obesity, some of them have now been approved to reduce the risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues and to treat sleep apnea, severe liver disease and kidney disease.
At least some of these benefits stem from weight loss itself. But researchers increasingly believe the drugs provide benefits that are completely separate from weight loss.
A leading theory is that these drugs tamp down high levels of inflammation, which is tied to many chronic health issues.
Scientists are also studying the potential for these drugs to treat a range of other conditions, including long Covid and substance use disorders. Emerging evidence has suggested that people on these drugs drink and smoke less, and are less likely to develop substance use disorders, although scientists want more, and larger, trials before drawing conclusions.”
GLP-1 Drugs: 6 Things We’ve Learned About Their Effects – The New York Times
Public Health
Study: Alcohol consumption: “Alcohol consumption, including at what may be perceived as “moderate” levels, is associated with increased mortality and morbidity risks. These results support tightening alcohol use guidance in the United States, for both males and females, to no more than 1 drink per day.”
Alcohol Intake and Health Study: No Protective Effect at Low Levels, With Mortality Increasing to 1 in 25 at 14 Drinks Per Week https://www.jsad.com/doi/10.15288/jsad.25-00435
