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Almost every major decision Trump officials have made since reclaiming the White House has benefitted insurers and their bottom lines. The most recent action — finalizing higher payments to Medicare Advantage plans in 2027 — will funnel an extra $13 billion toward the industry while abandoning a reform that would have led to more accurate, and lower, payments. (Herman, 4/9)

As chatbots become a fixture in everyday medical care, patients are using them not only to make lists of questions for doctors’ visits or decipher test results, but increasingly to pick apart the financial paperwork that follows, including challenging medical bills. When Jackie Davalos, 34, received a notice from a collections agency that she owed $22,604 to a hospital for an emergency room visit after she fell down some stairs two years earlier, her partner, Walter Kerr, used the chatbot Claude to help challenge the hospital’s charges. (Kwon, 4/8)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Farm Bureau Plans Are A Less Pricey Alternative To ACA Coverage — With Trade-Offs

Robin Carlton pays about $650 a month for a plan on the Missouri health insurance exchange that covers him and his two teenage kids. That monthly total is $200 higher than what he paid last year, due in part to the expiration in December of covid pandemic-era premium tax credits. But the self-employed St. Louis property manager isn’t in any hurry to investigate a new type of coverage that might be cheaper than his marketplace plan: farm bureau health plans. “Although I’m not a fan of rising costs, I’m not going to sacrifice coverage for my kids to save a buck,” Carlton said. (Andrews, 4/9)

The latest blueprint comes from the Center for American Progress, first reported by The Bulwark. The CAP report, which the group is calling a “Patients’ Bill of Rights,” focuses on what it considers the main drivers of rising insurance costs. It calls for limiting insurance premiums increases, banning prior authorization by insurers, and capping hospitals’ charges. (Wilkerson, 4/8)

Venture capital funds associated with insurers are switching up their investment formulas as priorities shift and budgets tighten. Health insurance conglomerates — forced to rethink core operations across business lines amid increased regulatory scrutiny, rising costs and Wall Street disapproval — are investing more deliberately and prioritizing different types of startups and emerging companies. (Tong, 4/8)

Three former employees of a privately operated psychiatric hospital in the nation’s capital have been charged with criminal negligence in the death of a patient, the city’s top federal prosecutor said Wednesday. The three former employees of the Psychiatric Institute of Washington failed to provide adequate medical care to the patient before he died nearly six years ago, their indictment alleges. (Kunzelman, 4/8)

Health systems struggling to fill gaps in mental healthcare are hiring staff and redeploying capital to try to keep pace with rising demand. Systems including Hartford Healthcare, Sentara Health and Northern Light Health are expanding their mental health networks and ramping up care coordination teams. Still, health system leaders fear they will not be able to move quickly enough to patch an eroding safety net for mental health patients. (Kacik, 4/8)

A new annual survey report brings warnings of sharp drops among nurses’ views of their jobs and careers during the past year. Released this week, it found a year-to-year drop in reported job satisfaction among nearly 2,100 nurses from 55% to 47%. It’s the first time since 2022’s 28% low that the measure hasn’t improved from the prior year, according to nurse.org, which conducted the survey. (Muoio, 4/8)