Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New National Specialty Care Coalition Will Focus On Rural Patient Access
Modern Healthcare: National Specialty Care Access Coalition To Target Rural Patients
More than 20 health systems have teamed up in a bid to use technology to improve access to care in rural and underserved areas. The National Specialty Care Access Coalition, which launched Wednesday, will prioritize standardizing care models, reforming policy and deploying pilots to speed innovation, a news release said. The model enables shared learning and a unified perspective, among other advantages, according to its website. (DeSilva, 2/18)
More on health care costs and coverage —
Fierce Healthcare: Family Premiums Account For 10% Of Income In 19 States: Study
Middle-income workers and their families are spending an average of 10.1% of the median income on their health premiums and deductibles, according to a new report. The Commonwealth Fund analyzed national data from 2024 on the employer-sponsored insurance market and found that the premium contributions for family coverage ranged from an average of $5,584 in Oregon to $9,148 in California. In 19 states, the average premium and deductible contribution topped 10% of that state's median income. (Minemyer, 2/18)
KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘An Arm and a Leg’: Personal Finance Guru Faces Down An Insurance Denial
Less than 36 hours before his wife was scheduled to undergo major surgery, New York Times personal finance columnist Ron Lieber got an unwelcome letter from his family’s insurance plan: It was denying prior authorization for the procedure. With no time to lodge an appeal, Lieber and his wife decided to proceed and bet on her doctors’ ability to reverse the decision post-surgery. They succeeded, but the experience troubled Lieber. Why had no one warned them sooner? He set out to find answers to help people avoid scrambling to deal with a last-minute denial. (Weissmann, 2/19)
The CT Mirror: Medicaid Caps Sought For Unionized Nursing Homes That Hire Family
State officials are asking lawmakers to craft a bill that would allow the Department of Social Services to limit Medicaid payments for unionized nursing homes whose owners hire family members at inflated salaries. (Carlesso, 2/18)
KFF Health News: Nevada Debuts Public Option Amid Tumultuous Federal Changes To Health Care
More than 10,000 people have enrolled in Nevada’s new public option health plans, which debuted last fall with the expectation that they would bring lower prices to the health insurance market. Those preliminary numbers from the open enrollment period that ended in January are less than a third of what state officials had projected. Nevada is the third state so far to launch a public option plan, along with Colorado and Washington state. The idea is to offer lower-cost plans to consumers to expand health care access. (Orozco Rodriguez, 2/19)
The Nevada Independent: Report: 16 Nevada Insurance Carriers Give Mental Health Care Claims Short Shrift
A state report shows at least 16 insurance carriers in Nevada likely violated the federal mental health and addiction parity law last year, putting more barriers in place for people seeking mental health care than physical health care in a state that has consistently ranked last for overall mental health. Since 2008, federal law has required plans to cover mental health and substance use treatment the same way they cover medical care. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes mental health and substance abuse disorders as one of 10 essential health benefits plans need to offer. (Mueller, 2/18)
WUSF: Moffitt Will Be Out Of Network For Humana Medicare Advantage PPO Plans
Effective July 1, Moffitt Cancer Center will be out of network for Humana’s Medicare Advantage PPO and HMO plans, the Tampa-based facility announced this month. The change comes seven months after Aetna’s Medicare Advantage PPO and HMO plans dropped Moffitt from their networks on Dec. 1. According to Moffitt, both insurers terminated the agreements for “business reasons that are unrelated to the quality of care provided.” (Mayer, 2/19)
Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Enrollment 2026: Winners And Losers
Medicare Advantage enrollment growth slowed over the past year, new data from the Centers from Medicare and Medicaid Services show. As of Feb. 1, 35.5 million people were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, a 3.2% increase from a year before, according to a Modern Healthcare analysis of CMS data. That compares to a 4% increase in 2025.Health insurance companies had projected enrollment would contract major carriers including UnitedHealth Group subsidiary and market leader UnitedHealthcare, Elevance Health, CVS Health subsidiary Aetna, and Centene shed members as they scaled back and sought to restore profit margins in the segment. (Tepper and Davis, 2/18)
In other health care industry developments —
Forbes: Elon Musk’s AI Pushes Back As He Encourages Users To Upload Medical Information
Over the last year, Musk has repeatedly encouraged people to use Grok, developed by his company xAI, to solicit a second opinion or seek medical advice and he has shared several testimonials from users who say the bot has helped them solve a medical problem. This week however, when Musk encouraged people to “just take a picture of your medical data or upload the file to get a second opinion from Grok,” the chatbot pushed back. (Whitfill Roeloffs, 2/18)
MedPage Today: Med School, UnitedHealth Partnered On A Course. It's Now Being Revised
The University of Minnesota (UMN) will change a medical school course offered in partnership with UnitedHealth Group (UHG) in response to feedback from students. (Henderson, 2/18)
Becker's Hospital Review: In A Cooling Strike Climate, Healthcare Heated Up
Healthcare remains a focal point for work stoppages, despite a broader national decline, as hospital and health system employees continue to cite pay and staffing concerns. Union activity in 2026 has already seen notable labor actions, such as the largest nurses strike in New York City history and an open-ended walkout by 31,000 United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals members at Kaiser Permanente facilities. In total, Becker’s has reported on nearly a dozen strikes since the beginning of 2026 and nearly 40 in 2025. (Gooch, 2/18)
