Highest increase in a couple of decades
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/business/health-insurance-increases.html
It's my understanding that NC has already made coverage reductions (weight loss drugs) and other shifts & downgrades are in the works.
Big changes ahead for State Health Plan as trustees work to lower costs
https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2026/03/21/big-changes-ahead-for-state-health-plan-as-trustees-work-to-lower-costs/
Quote"We fundamentally have two short-term options," said Friedman. "We can make everyone's benefit worse and charge people much more money for everything. The other option is to get physicians, doctors, hospitals to lower their prices."
But physicians are already complaining that Medicare reimbursement rates are not sufficient to cover costs. Medicaid reimbursement rates are quite a bit lower than that.
https://www.mgma.com/mgma-stat/2026-medicare-reimbursement-changes
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/calendar-year-cy-2027-medicare-physician-fee-schedule-proposed-rule
We could, of course, just say that doctors make too much and should get paid less which would mean that the reimbursement would cover costs. But for primary care and some specialities, we have a doctor shortage, so you can only squeeze that lemon so hard.
https://www.sgu.edu/school-of-medicine/blog/us-doctor-shortage/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11838062/
We're in the final countdown of our move to senior living. We picked a huge, major provider network last week. Our 1st choice no longer accepts Medicare. Looking through the roster, it appears about half of the doctors in this firm do not accept Medicare. THAT was a wake-up call.