NBC News (1/12, Lovelace Jr.) reports, “As open enrollment for Affordable Care Act insurance comes to an end, people are moving to cheaper plans or dropping their coverage entirely, according to state and federal data.” In 2025, “Congress failed to extend enhanced tax credits for [ACA] customers,” leading to “soaring monthly premiums across the U.S.” On Monday, CMS “released datashowing that nationally, sign-ups are down more than 800,000 from last year.” According to NBC News, “fewer new enrollees are signing up and fewer people are renewing their coverage.” In “Idaho, Massachusetts and Virginia, state health officials say roughly twice as many people have dropped their coverage for 2026 compared with the same point last year.” Meanwhile, “in Pennsylvania, terminations have more than tripled, to above 70,000, officials say, and are still growing.”

Related Links:

— “ACA sign-ups fall as higher premiums push people off plans,” Berkeley Lovelace Jr. , NBC News, January 12, 2026

Healio (1/12, Rhoades) reports, “Certain depressive symptoms experienced during midlife were tied to a greater risk for dementia, with some increasing the risk by around 50%, according to recently published data.” One study author said the results “show that dementia risk is linked to a handful of depressive symptoms rather than depression as a whole. … This symptom-level approach gives us a much clearer picture of who may be more vulnerable decades before dementia develops.” “Six depressive symptoms emerged as robust midlife indicators of increased dementia risk: Losing confidence in myself” , “Not able to face up to problems” , “Not feeling warmth and affection for others”, “Nervous and strung-up all the time”, “Not satisfied with the way tasks are carried out”, and “Difficulties concentrating” . Associations were independent of established dementia risk factors, including APOEε4 status, cardiometabolic conditions,”

Related Links:

— “Six depressive symptoms during midlife raise dementia risk,”Andrew (Drew) Rhoades , Healio , January 12, 2026

Healio (1/8, Herpen) reports, “The rate of alcohol-related hospitalizations in the U.S. stabilized between 2016 and 2022, but mortality rates, length of stay and total health care costs all increased, according to data.” Researchers found that “the mean length of hospital stay for alcohol-related issues increased from 5.6 to 6.2days.” Study results indicate that “hospitalization costs increased even after accounting for inflation and amounted to $32.6 billion in 2022.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Ancillary concerns related to alcohol-related hospitalizations increased from 2016 to 2022,”Robert Herpen , Healio, January 8, 2026

Psychiatric News (1/8) reports, “APA has filed a lawsuit along with a class of patients and families against health insurer EmblemHealth…over the company’s alleged use of a ‘ghost network’ of mental health” professionals. APA CEO and Medical Director Marketa M. Wills, MD, MBA, said, “Ghost networks’ impacts are widespread and harmful. … Not only does this practice hurt patients and families who are seeking care, it also harms clinicians who are dedicating their career to helping these individuals.” APA President Theresa M. Miskimen Rivera, MD, said, “When insurance companies use ghost networks, they are not only reaping profits by misleading consumers, they are also hurting people who are in need of mental health care.”

Related Links:

— “No Ghosting: APA Files Lawsuit Against EmblemHealth, Psychiatric News , January 8, 2026

HealthDay (1/7, Gotkine) reports, “Dried blood collection derived from capillary blood shows potential for Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarker testing, according to a study.” Researchers “examined the potential of dried plasma spot (DPS) and dried blood spot (DBS) analysis, derived from capillary blood, for detecting AD biomarkers, including phosphorylated tau at amino acid 217 (p-tau217), glial fibrillary acidic protein, and neurofilament light.” The investigators “identified strong correlations between DPS p-tau217 and venous plasma p-tau217. There was a progressive increase in DPS p-tau217 with increasing disease severity, with good accuracy for predicting cerebrospinal fluid biomarker positivity.” By “using paired venous plasma samples, glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light were successfully detected, with strong correlations between DBS and DPS, respectively.” The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Dried Blood Collection Shows Potential for Alzheimer Disease Biomarker Testing,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay , January 7, 2026