Watch out for double-digit health insurance increases in 2026
Property insurance may be what’s on residents’ minds as Florida continues to grapple with high housing costs, but people need to look out for soaring health insurance costs in the coming year, too. Fourteen insurers writing individual policies in Florida have proposed double-digit rate increases for Affordable Care Act-compliant plans in calendar year 2026, a review of federal data shows. While the proposed increases haven’t been finalized, they are looming and it’s not clear what, if anything, Florida insurance officials are doing to get the word out to people. [Source: Florida Phoenix]
Study: Advanced practice registered nurses could benefit seniors, costs
An aging population in Florida is increasing demand for “vastly different and more costly forms of health care,” according to new report from a taxpayer group. The study Hospice and Pallative Care by Florida TaxWatch focuses on palliative treatments – the management of serious chronic medical conditions – and hospice, end-of-life care. Florida is ranked in the top 10 nationally among states for hospice care, in part because of the certificate of need laws regulating the number of hospices based on the projected number of patients to prevent overbuilding. [Source: The Center Square]
Florida schools to train employees to recognize allergic reactions & administer life-saving medication
A new Florida law now mandates that school boards require public and charter elementary schools to train employees how to recognize whether a student might be having a life-threatening allergic reaction -- and how to administer medication to treat it. No such training was required for children who attend before and after-school programs on campus until now. The board of education, in consultation with the Department of Health, has been given until Oct. 1 to create an approved training curriculum. [Source: News 4 Jax]
Deaths from flesh-eating bacteria are on the rise. Who is at risk?
Deaths from “flesh-eating” bacteria are on the rise across the southeastern coasts of the U.S. Antarpreet Jutla, an engineering professor at the University of Florida, said that infections are still rare but “something is off this year.” Still, he said there are too many unknowns to be certain what's causing the rise in infections at this time. “This is certainly not normal, that’s one thing,” Jutla said. “We haven’t had that many cases early on in the summer for a very long time.” [Source: NBC News]
Why young Americans dread turning 26: health insurance chaos
When the ACA was voted into law in 2010, what’s known as its dependent coverage expansion was immediately effective, guaranteeing health insurance to millions of young Americans up to age 26 who would otherwise not have had coverage. The erosion of the law has now created an “insurance cliff” for Americans who are turning 26 and don’t have a job that provides medical coverage. [Source: WUSF]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› FIU researchers use AI to detect heart disease early with '95% accuracy'
The future of heart disease detection and prevention may have started with an opera singer. When Joshua Hutcheson heard about how his wife — then a grad student — was studying how subtle changes in vocal chords could affect a singer's voice, he started thinking about the heart in a completely new way. He began to wonder: If trained ears can pick up imperceptible differences in voice, could artificial intelligence detect subtle changes in the sound of a heartbeat?
› ‘I didn’t know that was an actual thing.’ Florida surgeon makes people taller
At 5-foot-6, Aaron Trinh noticed most of his friends were taller. He had been feeling self-conscious when he found an intriguing social media post. “I was on TikTok, and I came across a reel showing how there was a guy from Turkey who lengthened himself like 6 inches, and I was like, “Huh, that’s pretty interesting. I didn’t know that was an actual thing,” Trinh said. “I got introduced to how people were doing limb lengthening for cosmetic purposes.” Trinh’s online research led him to West Palm Beach.
› Florida woman faked her way into a nursing job — then it all unraveled
A Florida woman posed as a nurse and treated thousands of patients before getting caught in the lie, leading to her arrest and criminal charges, authorities said. Autumn Bardisa, 29, was accused of submitting fake records to get a job at a hospital in Palm Coast, a city of about 100,000 in Flagler County. She treated or helped treat nearly 4,500 patients between June 2024 and January 2025, when she was fired after her ruse unraveled, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office said.
› Federal investigation of South Florida pill mill ring raises questions about state oversight
More than a decade ago, Florida legislators passed laws to regulate so-called pill mills that once dominated the state and fueled the opioid crisis across the country. The regulations slashed the number of pain clinics operating in the state. But a recent federal investigation into a South Florida opioid distribution ring highlights potential gaps in the state's oversight.