Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:
“Getting America back to work full speed, getting you to work longer, if you desire—that builds trillions of dollars of value to the GDP,” Oz added. “And that’s the goal of the health system.”
Two Planned Parenthood affiliates have moved to challenge the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) from prohibiting their participation in Medicaid.
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region requested an administrative hearing to challenge the state agency’s decision to block them from participating in the federal health insurance program.
According to a Friday press release, ODM sent letters to both Planned Parenthood affiliates in late September informing them of the termination. The release said the change would prevent over 27,000 people “from receiving affordable care” across Ohio.
“We hope the hearing will clarify that the federal funding prohibition is purely a political attack on Planned Parenthood and does not provide any basis for ODM to terminate Planned Parenthood from the program,” Melissa Cohen, general counsel for both Planned Parenthood affiliates, said in the release.
The ‘big, beautiful’ bill — a large spending and tax bill signed into law by Trump in July — included provisions that prevented Planned Parenthood and other organizations offering abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for at least the next year.
Planned Parenthood affiliates challenged the bill’s provisions in court. A federal judge ruled in their favor and issued a nationwide injunction in July blocking the Trump administration from cutting Medicaid funding to the organizations.
But a federal appeals court overruled this decision in late September, allowing the Trump administration to proceed with its plans.
[…] Several Planned Parenthood affiliates around the country have faced cuts in services or health center closures. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin said it would pause abortion services due to Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ bill. Multiple affiliates sent notices to patients in July that Medicaid would no longer be accepted at their locations.
“My fundamental concern with regard to how much voting control I have at Tesla is, if I go ahead and build this enormous robot army, can I just be ousted at some point in the future?” he said. “If we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over this robot army? Not control, but a strong influence … I don’t feel comfortable building that robot army unless I have a strong influence.”
“EXCLUSIVE: Average Obamacare premiums are set to rise 30 percent, documents show”
“The price increases — affecting up to 17 million Americans who buy coverage on the federal marketplace — are by far the largest annual premium increases in recent years.”
Premiums for the most popular types of plans sold on the federal health insurance marketplace Healthcare.gov will spike on average by 30 percent next year, according to final rates approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and shown in documents reviewed by The Washington Post.
The rise in prices — affecting up to 17 million Americans who buy coverage on the federal marketplace — are by far the largest annual premium increases in recent years. The higher premiums, along with the likely expiration of pandemic-era subsidies, mean millions of people will see their health insurance payments double or even triple in 2026.
The premium spikes, mirroring the rising cost of private employer-sponsored plans, arrive during a protracted and bitter congressional battle over health insurance costs that prompted a government shutdown since Oct. 1.
Democrats have urged an extension of enhanced subsidies for plans sold through the Affordable Care Act to soften the blow of rising insurance costs, while Republicans have said the additional assistance was never meant to be permanent.
The spike in premiums will become visible to more Americans on Monday when the Trump administration is expected to open Healthcare.gov for window shopping to browse the price of plans ahead of the Nov. 1 start to open enrollment.
[…] Congressional Democrats have refused to vote for a funding bill without extending the extra subsidies to help cushion consumers against the rising costs. Republicans — who have long criticized the 2010 health care law that set up the marketplaces — say the subsidies should either expire or be negotiated at the end of the year.
“Social Security increase is in line with inflation but trails key expenses”
“Millions of Americans who collect retirement, disability, survivor and dependent benefits will see a 2.8 percent bump in 2026.”
[…] On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said prices rose 3 percent in September, year-over-year, compared with 2.9 percent in August. [graphs at the link]
While the increase is in line with overall inflation for the year, it trails categories that are particularly relevant to older adults. Friday’s CPI reading showed that medical care climbed 4 percent from a year earlier, while electricity and piped gas jumped 5 and 11.7 percent, respectively.
[…] the benefits bump will fall short of filling seniors’ needs in today’s economy. […]
Reactions to Friday’s announcement were mixed. Martin O’Malley, who led the Social Security Administration during the Biden administration, slammed the increase as insufficient in a statement on Friday. President Donald “Trump’s economy is forcing seniors and people with disabilities to choose between paying for food or medicine or utilities. The COLA increase won’t even come close to covering the rising costs seniors and people with disabilities face — and Trump’s inflation is only predicted to get worse in coming months,” he wrote. […]
“Hegseth said Friday that the U.S. struck a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea, marking at least the third time this week that the U.S. has attacked a vessel it says was involved in drug trafficking.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed an aircraft carrier strike group to move to the Caribbean to support President Donald Trump’s effort to dismantle “Transnational Criminal Organizations” and to “counter narco-terrorism,” according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing are moving to the U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility, Parnell said in a post on X.
Parnell said the enhanced military presence will “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere.”
The Gerald R. Ford is the U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier and is currently stationed in the Mediterranean with three destroyers, according to two U.S. officials. They have not left that region, but once they do, the transit will take about one week to get on station in the Caribbean, the officials said.
The military’s deployment of the carrier strike group is a notable escalation of U.S. policy in the region as Trump has promised to target more cartel members and has firmly said these actions don’t require congressional approval.
It will nearly double the number of U.S. forces afloat in the area as part of the counter-drug mission. The U.S. has eight surface ships there now, plus a nuclear-powered submarine, which adds up to about 6,000 sailors and marines in the region. The Ford Carrier Strike Group will add between 4,500 and 5,000 more sailors and marines to the mission.
The carrier is more than just people, aircraft and firepower — carriers are often sent as a show of presence or force. The officials said this deployment is also about sending a message to cartels that the U.S. military can move a huge presence to the area quickly. […]
The U.S. has said it has conducted 10 strikes on drug-carrying boats since early September, killing 43 people so far. Eight strikes have been in the Caribbean Sea and two in the eastern Pacific. […]
Asked whether Trump would go to Congress to ask for a declaration of war to authorize the ongoing strikes against boats, the president declined to do so.
“Well, I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” he said. “I think we’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country.”
“We’re going to kill them,” Trump added. “They’re going to be, like, dead.”
Lawmakers from both parties have said the administration has failed to provide sufficient information about the strikes and the strategy and intelligence underlying the attacks, six sources told NBC News earlier this month. […]
Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:
For the convenience of readers, here are few links back to the previous set of 500 comments on The Infinite Thread.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-2/#comment-2281799
“[…] you can take some joy from how the DOJ’s malicious prosecutions of New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey are hilariously incompetent.”
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-2/#comment-2281798
Trump approves disaster declarations for red states, as blue states go without
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-2/#comment-2281784
Sheer Assholery
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-2/#comment-2281781
Bipartisan call for term limits in Congress grows during prolonged shutdown
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-2/#comment-2281776
Justice Department wants to keep Todd Blanche off the stand in Kilmar Abrego Garcia case
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-2/#comment-2281752
“[…] this report showed that not only could Australia do the right thing by people seeking refuge, but in the long run it would also benefit the Australian economy.”
Planned Parenthood moves to block Medicaid termination in Ohio
Link
Elon Musk:
WIRED link
More at the link
Washington Post link
“EXCLUSIVE: Average Obamacare premiums are set to rise 30 percent, documents show”
“The price increases — affecting up to 17 million Americans who buy coverage on the federal marketplace — are by far the largest annual premium increases in recent years.”
More at the link.
Washington Post link
“Social Security increase is in line with inflation but trails key expenses”
“Millions of Americans who collect retirement, disability, survivor and dependent benefits will see a 2.8 percent bump in 2026.”
NBC News: U.S. to send aircraft carrier strike group to Caribbean in an escalation of boat strikes
“Hegseth said Friday that the U.S. struck a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea, marking at least the third time this week that the U.S. has attacked a vessel it says was involved in drug trafficking.”