Appeals Panel: Suit Challenging COVID Orders Moot

A Michigan Court of Appeals panel held in December that an Otsego County barbecue restaurant’s lawsuit challenging the local health department’s pandemic-related orders is moot.

Judge Brock Swartzle concurred in the judgment, but he would have addressed Moore Murphy Hospitality’s claims challenging the constitutionality of the provision which authorized local health departments to issue orders regarding an “imminent danger” to public health.

“… Because any decision by this panel on the merits of those claims would be summarily vacated by our Supreme Court, per its order in T & V Assoc. v. Director of Health & Human Services … there is little to be gained by this panel reaching [Read More]

A coalition of public health researchers, healthcare workers and advocates is proposing that states join forces to create their own public health authorities in place of organizations like the Center for Disease Control (CDC) as the Trump administration implements its public health policies.

A November statement from the group “Defend Public Health” flagged a change on the CDC’s website that has changed recently to say that it cannot be conclusively stated that vaccines don’t cause autism, due to a lack of research that would bolster those conclusions.

Dr. Peter Lipson, a primary care provider, said at the Defend Public Health press conference today that when patients or those around him ask where they can [Read More]

By SUSAN JAFFE

Along with the occasional aches and pains, growing older can bring surprise setbacks and serious diseases. Longtime relationships with doctors people trust often make even bad news more tolerable. Losing that support — especially during a health crisis — can be terrifying. That’s why little-known federal requirements are supposed to protect people with privately run Medicare Advantage coverage when contract disputes lead their health care providers and insurers to part ways.

But government documents obtained by KFF Health News show the agency overseeing Medicare Advantage does little to enforce long-standing rules intended to ensure about 35 million plan members can see doctors in the first place.

In response to a [Read More]

By CELINE GOUNDER

Rates of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, are surging in Texas, Florida, California, Oregon, and other states and localities across the country.

The outbreaks are fueled by falling vaccination rates, fading immunity, and delays in public health tracking systems, according to interviews with state and federal health officials. Babies too young to be fully vaccinated are most at risk.

“Pertussis cases increase in a cyclical fashion driven by waning immunity, but the size of the outbreak and the potential for severe outcomes in children who cannot be vaccinated can be mitigated by high coverage and good communication to folks at risk,” said Demetre Daskalakis, a former head of the Centers [Read More]

By ROLF LOWE
Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On October 31, 2025, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final rule for the physician fee schedule (PFS) for calendar year (CY) 2026. The PFS is updated and published annually in the Federal Register. In addition to setting prices for Medicare reimbursement, the PFS also includes updated payment and coverage policies for Medicare reimbursable services and supplies, and the implementation of provisions from various Congressional Acts that have been passed over the previous years. The final rule adopted most of what was included in the proposed rule when it was released in July.

In a press release from CMS released on the [Read More]

By NICOLETTE TABER & DUSTIN PLUMADORE
Dickinson Wright

 Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a conviction of a lab operator for violations of the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (“EKRA”) in United States v. Schena. This ruling, the first ever appellate interpretation of EKRA, has notable implications for both the laboratory industry and the greater healthcare industry.

What is EKRA?

EKRA was enacted in 2018 as a component of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT Act). EKRA makes it a federal crime to accept or pay kickbacks for referrals to recovery homes, clinical treatment facilities, or laboratories. Similar to the Anti-Kickback Statute, [Read More]

Rivet Suggests Opening Up Medicare For Those Who Want It

U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City)  described the United States’ health care system as being in a “crisis” that, in the long term, should include affordable insurance programs, which “likely means . . . a reasonable proposal that opens up Medicare for people who want it.”

Speaking in November during a press conference sponsored by Protect Our Care, Rivet advocated for a return of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that have kept health insurance rates steady and affordable for Americans. Without the tax credits, “millions of Americans” are at risk of going without health insurance, which will jack up rates [Read More]

This story courtesy of MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

If Congress discontinues tax credits that subsidize working-class employees who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s affiliated marketplace, costs could skyrocket, based on testimony taken at a recent state Senate committee meeting.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities projected that 94,800 small business owners in Michigan, as well as 60,700 individuals tagged as “self-employed,” received coverage through the marketplace.

Without the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, healthier people receiving coverage through the ACA marketplace may drop their coverage as the price for insurance becomes prohibitive, making coverage even more expensive for those who need it.

Senate Health Policy Committee Chair Kevin Hertel [Read More]

This story courtesy of MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

The rate of children and adolescents receiving routine vaccinations is declining across the state, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Routine vaccinations are shots for polio, measles, mumps and rubella for children and meningitis for teenagers, said Kao-Ping Chua, an associate professor at the University of Michigan who oversaw the study.

Researchers looked at data from the Michigan Care Improvement Registry from 2017 to 2023. The registry documents the vaccinations an individual has received, he said.

They found that childhood immunizations dropped from 75.7% to 66.8% during the study period, while adolescent immunizations fell to 74.5% from 80.7%.

The COVID-19 [Read More]

By AMANDA SEITZ & JULIE APPLEBY

One family in Virginia Beach, Virginia, just found out their health plan’s deductible will jump from $800 to $20,000 next year. About 200 miles north, in Maryland, another household learned they’ll pay $500 more monthly to insure their brood in 2026. And thousands of people in Idaho were greeted with insurance rates that’ll cost, on average, $100 more every month.

As shopping season opens for Affordable Care Act plans in some states, customers are confronting staggering costs for their health insurance next year. The extra federal subsidies put in place in 2021 that made coverage more affordable for millions of people will expire at the end of [Read More]