The defendants include 90 physicians and other licensed medical professionals. 

More than 15 years after the National Academy of Medicine summoned a blue-ribbon panel to “reimagine” the Department of Health and Human Services for the 21st century, the cabinet-level operation has yet to make good on the experts’ overarching directive. 

The agency had been suing the three largest pharmacy benefit managers over their alleged control of insulin prices. It reached agreements with CVS’ Caremark and Cigna’s Express Scripts earlier this year.

New federal limits on state-directed payments are set to cut Medicaid funding in most states. Hospitals are expected to bear the brunt since they account for the majority—84%, around $78B a year—of state-directed healthcare spends. 

The Trump administration said the reduction can be attributed to a cleanup of fraud, waste and abuse, but the real reason extends back to enhanced subsidies put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legislative changes, demographic shifts and growing demand will combine to drive national health spending to almost $9 trillion by 2034.

The money includes $238.6 million to improve suicide crisis hotlines and $223.1 million to expand community behavioral health clinics. Dozens of programs around the country are set to receive the funding.

The new guidelines take effect in 2027. However, the associated data infrastructure the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it is developing to streamline eligibility determinations and appeals will not go live until 2028.

Starting next New Year’s Day, many Medicaid beneficiaries will need to show they’re working at least 80 hours per month in order to continue qualifying for the means-tested public assistance. 

Compensation for healthcare providers rose some 4.3% in 2025. The sobering news is that the gain owes more to heavier daily workloads than to bigger per-patient billings.