7+ hour, 53+ min ago (192+ words) MAJOR CHANGES TO MEDI-CAL, CALFRESH AND COVERED CALIFORNIA FOR 2026 Key Changes to Medi-Cal/Partnership/CalFresh: January 1, 2026 begins the "Enrollment Freeze" for new Medi-Cal applicants based on their immigration status (more info below). If you already have Medi-Cal, you can stay covered no matter your immigration status. For these individuals, if they have a lapse of coverage for more than 90 days, they will not be able to have their Medi-Cal reinstated. MAJOR CHANGES TO MEDI-CAL, CALFRESH AND COVERED CALIFORNIA FOR 2026 Key Changes to Medi-Cal/Partnership/CalFresh: January 1, 2026 begins the "Enrollment Freeze" for new Medi-Cal applicants based on their immigration status (more info below). If you already have Medi-Cal, you can stay covered no matter your immigration status. For these individuals, if they have a lapse of coverage for more than 90 days, they will not be able to have their Medi-Cal reinstated....

3+ day, 15+ hour ago (303+ words) As families gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, many worry about the impossibly high cost of health insurance. Let's play a game of What If? (It will be fun, I promise.) What if healthcare dollars currently going to insurance companies were paid instead to the consumers themselves? Would good things result, or bad? This "what if" exercise was prompted by President Trump's offhand suggestion to give ACA subsidies "directly to the people...[instead of]...BIG, BAD insurance companies"? (Republicans are currently considering this idea but only for the ACA.) Specifically, what if all the money called employer-sponsored health benefits that presently goes to insurance... As families gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, many worry about the impossibly high cost of health insurance. Let's play a game of What If? (It will be fun, I promise.) What if healthcare dollars currently going to insurance companies…...

5+ day, 22+ hour ago (719+ words) Medicare beneficiaries are bracing for one of the steepest cost increases in years as Medicare 2026 premiums rise sharply across multiple parts of the program. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seniors will see a significant jump in Part B premiums, rising health care costs, fewer Medicare Advantage options, and meaningful changes to prescription drug coverage. Even for retirees who rely heavily on Social Security, the increase in Medicare 2026 premiums will eat into much of next year's cost of living adjustment. With household expenses already stretched by high prices for food, utilities, housing, and medical care, the new premium structure is shaping up to be a major financial challenge for older Americans. Medicare Part B premiums will rise almost 10 percent next year, marking the largest percentage increase in four years and one of the biggest dollar increases in…...

6+ day, 3+ hour ago (959+ words) IRS Study shows California is losing a taxpayer every minute to states like Florida, Texas, and North Carolina California Governor Gavin Newsom is pushing a retroactive billionaire tax targeting the roughly 220 billionaires residing in California in 2025, ignoring that these individuals are the most financially mobile and can live anywhere. Expecting them to remain in the state as if they will happily and willingly hand over even more of their wealth surely must be facetious. SEIU is sponsoring the "2026 Billionaires Tax Act." The measure, recently listed on the Attorney General's website, would impose a one-time 5% tax on individual wealth exceeding $1 billion, Marc Joffe wrote for the Globe this week. He explains the measure and more: Although the tax would be levied based on 2026 net worth, it would apply to billionaires who resided in California in 2025, so theoretically it could not be…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (669+ words) MADISON, Wis. " A Wisconsin woman who gets her health insurance through the Affordable Care Act says she's bracing for next year " when tax credits expire. "This is going to hurt our family," Shana Verstegen, a Madison fitness instructor, log roller, and mother, told News 3 Now Tuesday. Like log rolling, raising a family requires a lot of risk. "We have two young boys and don't feel good about not having health insurance with the two boys," Verstegen said. However, Verstegen and her husband are now preparing to pay a lot more for peace of mind next year. "It's really, really adding up," she said. "We've already had to make so many cuts in everything else, and with the prices of groceries and childcare and electricity and everything going up, it's a really big impact for our family," Verstegen said. According to…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (299+ words) The 42-day federal shutdown forced by Democrats thrust the economics of Obamacare into the limelight, and exposed an uncomfortable truth: An insurance industry whose executives are increasingly liberal donors has seen its earnings soar with the injection of taxpayer-funded subsidies that propped up Barack Obama's signature health program from collapse. The nation's largest health insurance companies have seen good business since Obamacare was first passed in 2010 and fully implemented in 2014. This has come in no small part because of federal government subsidies to the insurance industry, which government estimates show totaled $1.8 trillion in 2023 alone. Those subsidies were greatly expanded by the Biden administration during the COVID-19 pandemic as an emergency measure, but Democrats have fought to keep them permanent. The healthcare legislation was also a boon for these companies' stock prices. One study found the weighted average of health insurance…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago (354+ words) David Delfiner and Lisa Parsons received a shocking letter from their health insurance provider when they checked their mail last week. Their monthly health insurance cost will increase from $350 a month this year to $2,221 starting in 2026. "It's insane. It's unbelievable," said Parsons, a 59-year-old retiree living in South Lake Tahoe. The couple is not alone as open enrollment begins and 1.7 million Californians are facing an average 97% surge in premiums for next year's health insurance plans available on the open marketplace. Covered California, the state's health care exchange, expects prices to increase 10% on average for all enrollees using the marketplace. But the increased costs are exponentially higher for people like Delifner and Parsons thanks to the end of a Joe Biden-era tax credit. That tax credit passed in 2021 offered health care subsidies for middle-class people who cannot buy coverage through their…...

4+ week, 1+ day ago (445+ words) CLEVELAND, Ohio " In an effort to stem its ballooning charity care costs, MetroHealth on Thursday launched a new financial assistance policy that eliminates 100% free charity care for some uninsured and underinsured Cuyahoga County residents, the health system said Thursday. MetroHealth is also encouraging such patients to enroll in health insurance during fall open enrollment periods. Under MetroHealth's new financial assistance policy, now called its Healthcare Access and Assistance Plan, patients get higher discounts on their medical bills if they also seek counseling from MetroHealth's financial counselors. Hardest hit by the changes are Cuyahoga County residents earning between 251% and 300% of the federal poverty level " or $80,000 to $96,000 for a four-person household. People in this category will no longer get fully free care, instead getting a 75% discount as long as they attend financial counseling. Cuyahoga County residents earning between 251% and 300% of the federal…...

4+ week, 1+ day ago (440+ words) Stacy Cox used one word repeatedly as she described how she felt after learning her ACA premium could jump over 300% without the enhanced tax credits: "devastating." "I don't know if I've ever cried opening a letter from an insurance or before, but it happened this time," she told ABC News. Cox's premium this year has been $495.32 for coverage for her and her husband. Without the credit in 2026, she was informed that it's increasing to $2,168.68. "It's devastating because we can't afford that," she said. "Just that bill right there, that's more than our mortgage, our insurance, most of our food. That's what we're paying per month to live. We can't afford to double what it costs for us to live just to have health insurance." "This will devastate us if we tried to pay it," she added. Millions across the country…...