The Trump administration slashed funding for Affordable Care Act navigators, which help people sign up for ObamaCare coverage on the law's exchanges, by 90%. CMS announced health insurance navigators will receive just $10 million per year over the next four years. Navigators received $98 million in 2024.
A federal judge on Monday questioned the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency but was skeptical of a request to block DOGE from accessing sensitive data and firing employees at half a dozen federal agencies. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan held a hearing on a request from 14 states for a temporary restraining order seeking to curtail Musk's power in President Donald Trump's quest to downsize the federal government. Chutkan said she would rule within 24 hours.
Workers who were still on probation at the HHS and the agencies it oversees, were informed that they were being terminated for poor performance, even though many said they had previously received only strong performance evaluations. Though their employment was effectively terminated immediately, they were told they would receive 30 days of administrative leave.
Another hospital maternity unit is closing in rural north-central Pennsylvania, leaving a seven-county swath of the state — about the size of Connecticut — without labor and delivery care. The 25-bed UPMC Cole Hospital in Coudersport, Potter County, announced that it was closing its three-bed obstetrics unit effective April 7. The Pittsburgh-based health system will consolidate services at UPMC Wellsboro Hospital, about 35 miles away, while continuing to offer outpatient women's healthcare at Cole.
New details have emerged about the massive health care merger between the University of Minnesota and Essentia Health. State lawmakers and the university's Board of Regents had the chance to ask questions the last few days. The proposal is still in its early stages but officials say combining the university and its medical school with Essentia's largely rural hospital system would create the broadest geographic reach of any entity in Minnesota.