Baylor Scott & White Health and Memorial Hermann Health System announced plans to merge their systems on Monday, Oct. 1.

The U.S. is edging ever closer to a nursing crisis, news magazine The Week has reported, citing staffing shortages, security concerns and insufficient pay among the reasons American RNs are becoming restless.

Immigrants to the U.S. accounted for nearly 13 percent of premiums paid to private insurers in 2014, according to a study published Oct. 1 in Health Affairs. But they’re spending more on those premiums than they’re receiving in benefits, creating a deficit that’s hard to ignore as the country wrestles with immigration policy.

UnitedHealth Group, the U.S.’s largest health insurer, bought pharmacy company Genoa Healthcare for $2.5 billion, Bloomberg reports.

Despite growing support for a Medicare for All system among Democrats, HHS Secretary Alex Azar blasted such an idea during a speech in Tennessee this week, The Hill reported.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not violate certain legal provisions when it reduced public outreach to alert people to healthcare enrollment periods and put out social media posts that blasted Obamacare, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Small towns and rural areas saw the biggest benefits of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, according to a recent report.

Hundreds of hospitals will see penalties on patient readmissions ease up after Congress instructed Medicare to change its policy, NPR reported.