Bob Herman got the Joe Kernan treatment on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday. Kernan got in a lot of digs at Democrats and Obamacare, but Bob kept his comments apolitical. Tara covers the business of health care. She also writes about health insurance.
Kristine Fifer's son, Eddie, has cerebral palsy, feeding tube, and other medical conditions. He didn't qualify for around-the-clock nursing care. Fifer spiraled as she sought to pay for the care. She lost her job, took on heaps of debt, and eventually called a lawyer about filing for bankruptcy.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. A.C. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board. It has not been subject to the Congressional Budget Office’s regular review and editing process. The views expressed here are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as those of CBO.
Susan Shapiro and her husband borrowed money from her husband's rich relative to buy an apartment. They are now $5,000 more in debt because of the interest. Belle Burden's Strangers is a memoir about her marriage and divorce. Susan Shapiro has fixed up 30 now-married couples online.
Enrollment in Affordable Care Act marketplaces fell 12% from 21.8 million people in February 2025 to 19.2 million in February 2026. It's the steepest single-year decline since the marketplaces opened in 2014. The decline is due to the expiration of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits, which lowered enrollees’ monthly payments when they were in effect from 2021 through 2025. When they lapsed at the end of 2025, the cost to keep the same plan jumped about 114%. People switched to cheaper, higher-deductible plans, but average premium payments still rose 58% and deductibles climbed 37%.
A report says one in ten adults over 50 lives alone and doesn't have a partner or children. Ailene Gerhardt is a patient advocate helping people navigate their care and the complexities of the healthcare system. Sara Zeff Geber has been writing and speaking about solo aging for more than 10 years. Jason Resendez is CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving.
This year, American families will spend more than $37,000 on private health care. The average family on Obamacare will spend about $27,000. The Great Healthcare Plan restores the principle that the patient, not the middleman, the bureaucrat or the broker, is the customer. It ends the perverse incentives that direct your dollars toward the freeloaders in the health care system.
Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, which gave the top 1% fully $118 billion this year in tax cuts, turns a year old this week. Republicans in Congress celebrated the largest cuts to food assistance and Medicaid in American history. More than 4 million Americans have been pushed off SNAP since the bill passed, the steepest drop since Clinton’s 1996 welfare cuts.
Michelle Flowers took eight months to get her food stamp benefits reinstated after they lapsed last year. Christine MacArthur lost the $670 a month she had been receiving in SNAP benefits. Arizona's SNAP enrollment has fallen by over 50% as the state has moved more aggressively to implement the new federal requirements.
Bob Herman got the Joe Kernan treatment on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday. Kernan got in a lot of digs at Democrats and Obamacare, but Bob kept his comments apolitical. Tara covers the business of health care. She also writes about health insurance.
Kristine Fifer's son, Eddie, has cerebral palsy, feeding tube, and other medical conditions. He didn't qualify for around-the-clock nursing care. Fifer spiraled as she sought to pay for the care. She lost her job, took on heaps of debt, and eventually called a lawyer about filing for bankruptcy.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. A.C. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board. It has not been subject to the Congressional Budget Office’s regular review and editing process. The views expressed here are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as those of CBO.
Susan Shapiro and her husband borrowed money from her husband's rich relative to buy an apartment. They are now $5,000 more in debt because of the interest. Belle Burden's Strangers is a memoir about her marriage and divorce. Susan Shapiro has fixed up 30 now-married couples online.
Enrollment in Affordable Care Act marketplaces fell 12% from 21.8 million people in February 2025 to 19.2 million in February 2026. It's the steepest single-year decline since the marketplaces opened in 2014. The decline is due to the expiration of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits, which lowered enrollees’ monthly payments when they were in effect from 2021 through 2025. When they lapsed at the end of 2025, the cost to keep the same plan jumped about 114%. People switched to cheaper, higher-deductible plans, but average premium payments still rose 58% and deductibles climbed 37%.
A report says one in ten adults over 50 lives alone and doesn't have a partner or children. Ailene Gerhardt is a patient advocate helping people navigate their care and the complexities of the healthcare system. Sara Zeff Geber has been writing and speaking about solo aging for more than 10 years. Jason Resendez is CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving.
This year, American families will spend more than $37,000 on private health care. The average family on Obamacare will spend about $27,000. The Great Healthcare Plan restores the principle that the patient, not the middleman, the bureaucrat or the broker, is the customer. It ends the perverse incentives that direct your dollars toward the freeloaders in the health care system.
Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, which gave the top 1% fully $118 billion this year in tax cuts, turns a year old this week. Republicans in Congress celebrated the largest cuts to food assistance and Medicaid in American history. More than 4 million Americans have been pushed off SNAP since the bill passed, the steepest drop since Clinton’s 1996 welfare cuts.
Michelle Flowers took eight months to get her food stamp benefits reinstated after they lapsed last year. Christine MacArthur lost the $670 a month she had been receiving in SNAP benefits. Arizona's SNAP enrollment has fallen by over 50% as the state has moved more aggressively to implement the new federal requirements.