It’s getting harder to dodge “You Can See Everything” spoilers, but you know what I’ll never dodge? STAT’s award-winning journalism.
Speaking of, today’s newsletter features two stories from the illustrious Tara Bannow, who explains why CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz called a New York disability services program “a plague to the state.”
Telehealth companies eye GLP-1’s next act: addiction
Telehealth companies aren’t waiting for approval from the Food and Drug Administration to test the popular obesity medications GLP-1s for other indications. Their next target? Addictions like alcohol use disorder.
Experts are hopeful that these drugs can fill a significant unmet medical need, as the FDA has not approved a new medication for alcohol use disorder in two decades. The hype is certainly real. Telehealth brands are buying ads on Facebook. Biotech companies like Eli Lilly and Altimmune are testing drugs for their effect at curbing alcohol cravings.
But will these drugs actually work? Read more from STAT’s Katie Palmer.
‘A plague to the state’
Federal officials have announced their latest target for fraud in health care: New York’s Social Adult Day Care program.
The Medicaid-funded program provides socialization, personal care, and meals for adults with physical and cognitive disabilities, but federal officials say it’s rife with fraud. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz even called it “a plague to the state.”
Oz joined law enforcement officials in Queens at dawn on Tuesday as they searched offices and delivered warning letters to almost 100 providers informing them that their Medicaid billing far exceeded their peers and that they would be expected to provide documentation to support it. Two providers were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly defrauding Medicaid for more than $500,000.
New York is the latest state to come under the fire from the Trump administration’s war on fraud, which some say is disproportionately aimed at punishing blue states such as Minnesota and California. Read more from STAT’s Tara Bannow.
Personalized ‘prehab’ while awaiting liver transplant tied to better survival, study says
People who need a liver transplant face daunting odds against living long enough to receive one. An individualized exercise and diet program can improve their chances of survival while on the waiting list, a study published Wednesday in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology found, with the frailest patients often benefiting the most.
A team from Northwestern Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh tested a home-based exercise program in 355 patients who had met with a physical therapist and a dietitian to design a plan aiming for 150 minutes of weekly activity.
Overall, two-thirds of patients did better on a frailty score that measures grip strength, chair stands, and balancing. And patients who attended at least three follow-up visits improved by at least 0.4 on that 4.5 frailty scale, associated with an approximately 50% lower risk of dying while on the waitlist. The authors hope to confirm these results in a larger trial. – Elizabeth Cooney
Health insurance premiums jumped 9% in 2026
Workplace health insurance coverage costs just keep rising.
The amount that workers pay in premiums for a family health insurance plan jumped 9% in 2026, to $7,471 on average, according to KFF’s 2026 Employer Health Benefits Survey. Workers at small businesses faced even larger increases.
Premiums are jumping largely because the overall cost of health care is climbing. So far, employers have shouldered most of that increase, but it’s come at a cost: Small businesses are increasingly retreating from offering coverage to their workers and experts say that employers are reaching a “breaking point.” Premium increases could increase even further next year.
Tara has the full readout from the gold-standard survey, which puts some hard numbers to the nationwide feeling that health insurance is too expensive.
More Americans don’t have health insurance
Working-age U.S. adults without health insurance rose in 2026. And half of all uninsured people did not seek needed care because of cost concerns, according to a new survey.
The Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey found that the uninsured rate rose from 8.9 percent in 2024 to 11.2 percent in 2026, a bump that they attribute to the expiration of Affordable Care Act marketplace premium tax credits and the rollback of pandemic-era protections that kept people enrolled in Medicaid.
The bad news is likely to get worse. In 2027, major Medicaid cuts and Affordable Care Act marketplace restrictions will make it even harder for Americans to access health insurance. Read more of the survey’s findings.
What we’re reading
- Another diabetes association leader is out while review continues, STAT
- Supreme Court rejects Trump admin’s request to end trans-related care in prison, Law Dork
- Controversial US-backed vaccine trial in African newborns halted, The Guardian
- States are forcing hospitals to offer more people financial aid. In Oregon, it’s working. KFF Health News