As health insurance premiums continue to rise, states are confronting a major driver of spending growth: high hospital prices. On To the Point, Bailit Health’s Alyssa Vangeli and Michael Bailit examine recent state actions, including new legislation in Indiana and Vermont to limit hospital prices in the commercial market, and New Mexico and Washington’s new laws capping prices in state employee health plans. With affordability concerns front and center, the authors expect to see more states developing hospital pricing proposals for the 2026 and 2027 legislative sessions.
In the early 2000s, roughly 30 percent of people in the Philippines were dying prematurely, mainly from poor access to health care and insurance coverage. At the same time, the country ranked among the highest globally in tobacco use. In 2012, the Philippines government addressed both issues at once with a “sin tax” on tobacco, and reduced smoking rates substantially while generating sustainable funding to expand health coverage. In International Insights, Munira Gunja explores whether the United States — where smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and many people are either uninsured or underinsured — would benefit from additional tobacco taxes as well.
Affordable Care Act premiums rose an average of 21.7 percent in 2026. This spike far outpaces expected premium increases in the employer-sponsored insurance market and has led to some claims that the ACA is financially unsustainable. On To the Point, the Urban Institute’s John Holahan and Claire O’Brien put the 2026 premium spike in perspective. Most of it, they write, stems from the end of enhanced ACA premium tax credits and other policy changes. Together, these are estimated to shrink enrollment by more than 7 million people, leave a less healthy pool of remaining enrollees, create market uncertainty, and cause some insurers to exit the ACA market.
Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship Application Open
The application for the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership at Yale University is now open. This 22-month, degree-granting program covers the cost of the MBA for Executives program and gives health care professionals the leadership skills and deep understanding of teams, markets, and organizations necessary to tackle health system inequities. The application deadline for round 2 is February 2, 2026. Reach out to the team at [email protected] or request a preassessment to see if you’re a fit for the program.
Helping Medicaid Beneficiaries Retain Coverage
Up to 650,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries in Los Angeles could lose their coverage by the end of 2028 as federal Medicaid funding cuts take effect, predicted L.A. Care CEO Martha Santana-Chin in a recent interview with KFF Health News. Read Transforming Care to learn about the effective strategies community health centers deployed to help patients maintain Medicaid coverage or find new sources of insurance when the COVID public health emergency ended and states resumed the process of reviewing residents’ eligibility for Medicaid benefits.
Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.
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