Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

For the week of Apr 24-May1, 2026

If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Top Three...

The New York Times: Since Congress Let Obamacare Subsidies Expire, Millions Are Dropping Coverage Millions of Americans appear to be dropping Obamacare coverage in the months since Congress failed to extend the generous subsidies that had become a defining feature of the Affordable Care Act. Initial sign-ups had already fallen by about 1.2 million people. But insurance companies, state officials and industry analysts are reporting that many more have lost Obamacare coverage now that people are facing long-term higher costs. The federal government has yet to report current enrollment data. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 5/1)
AP: Trump Pulls Nomination For Surgeon General Nominee Casey Means President Donald Trump said Thursday he’s nominating radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier for surgeon general after Dr. Casey Means’ path forward stalled in the Senate over questions about her experience and her stance on vaccines. In a social media post, Trump said he would nominate Saphier, whom he called “a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment.” (Swenson and Kinnard, 4/30)
The Hill: Health Costs Top Voter Concerns, Poll Reveals About nine in 10 voters said the issue of health costs will influence their decision to vote and who to vote for in the 2026 midterm elections, with majorities saying it will have a “major impact” on both areas. While majorities of voters across parties said health care costs will impact their vote in November, the issue was more pressing for Democrats and independent voters. Overall, voters did not give very high marks to the Trump administration. (Choi, 4/29)

For a Deeper Dive...

AP: OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma Is Sentenced, Set To Dissolve OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is set to be dissolved and replaced by a company focused on the public good by the week’s end, as a massive legal settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits takes effect. A federal judge on Tuesday delivered a criminal sentence to the company to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice probe — a last necessary step to clear the way for the settlement. U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo made her decision after listening to hours of impact statements from people who lost loved ones or struggled with addiction themselves and requested she reject the negotiated sentence. (Mulvihill, 4/29)
Stat: NIH Grants Are More Competitive And Complicated The likelihood of snagging National Institutes of Health grants has plunged to historic lows, forcing frustrated academic researchers to resort to a variety of tactics to try to obtain funding and, in some cases, keep their jobs, according to a nationwide STAT survey and follow-up interviews with respondents. (Oza, 4/30)
KFF Health News: States Rush To Figure Out How To Enforce Trump’s Medicaid Work Requirements State officials remain uncertain on how to enforce a requirement that many adult Medicaid enrollees show they’re working — even as one state launches its program this week — and they’re taking a variety of approaches to the job, including, in a handful of states, using artificial intelligence. A KFF survey of Medicaid officials from 42 states and the District of Columbia offers insights into key policy decisions state officials face as the Jan. 1, 2027, deadline for implementing the work requirement nears. Lingering questions include which diseases and illnesses will qualify Medicaid beneficiaries for exemptions and how to automate compliance verification. (Spears, 4/30)
The Washington Post: Medicare Portal Exposed Health Providers’ Social Security Numbers The Trump administration inadvertently exposed the Social Security numbers of health care providers in a database powering a new Medicare portal, The Washington Post found. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last year created a directory to help seniors look up which doctors and medical providers accept which insurance plans, framing it as an overdue improvement and part of the Trump administration’s initiative to modernize health care technology. (Diamond and Ence Morse, 4/30)
The Hill: GOP Blames Hospitals For Soaring Healthcare Expenses House Republicans during a Tuesday hearing blamed hospital and health systems for high health costs, excoriating a group of CEOs for exorbitant benefits packages, large profit margins and mergers. “Our communities are better off with hospitals in them, but large health systems have taken advantage of that reality,” Ways and Means Committee chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said. “Simply put, hospitals are charging an insane amount for care.” Hospitals are one of the primary drivers of increased health spending, accounting for about 31 percent of all health care costs, according to the most recent federal data. Smith noted that hospital prices have skyrocketed 300 percent in just over two decades. (Weixel, 4/28)
KFF Health News: Big Companies Position Themselves For Payday From $50B Federal Rural Health Fund Tory Starr is worried about the people who get medical care at Open Door Community Health Centers along California’s North Coast. “They’re the folks that work at restaurants. They’re the teacher’s aides,” said Starr, a registered nurse who became Open Door’s chief executive more than six years ago. Those patients, he said, are “really the heart and soul of rural America.” (Tribble, 4/28)
The 19th: 2026 Election: Abortion Is Still A Key Issue In Democratic Races In Wisconsin, a liberal candidate for state Supreme Court won her April race by 20 points after highlighting her work supporting abortion rights. In Georgia, two liberal candidates running for their state’s highest court are running on their opposition to the state’s six-week abortion ban. And in California, a Planned Parenthood leader is running for Congress as a Democrat after Republicans slashed funding for the organization last year. (Panetta, 4/29)

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For the Visual Among Us...

A few years ago I started a weekly e-mail for friends and colleagues who want to keep up on major federal health policy developments but did not have time to plod through all the minutiae--they were busy doing important things like running organizations and taking care of patients! Much to my surprise, it became pretty popular. I have now converted to a weekly newsletter format so you can manage your own subscription preferences and forward to others that might be interested.

These summaries represent my judgement on health policy issues that may not on the front pages, but are relevant to clinicians, administrators, and educators. I monitor many news sources and clipping services to identify content for this newsletter and I try hard to be as factual, balanced, and non-partisan as possible. While the articles are written by others (with credit attributed), the choice of what to include is entirely mine. If you are interested in receiving a daily summary of health policy news, you might consider signing up for the KHN Morning Briefing. If you enjoy podcasts, I suggest What the Health? and Tradeoffs.

-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD