A weekly alert that contains in-depth news, information, insight and analysis on the most critical health care related issues and topics facing Florida.<\/p>\n
Watch out for double-digit health insurance increases in 2026<\/p>\n
Property insurance may be what\u2019s on residents\u2019 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\u2019t been finalized, they are looming and it\u2019s not clear what, if anything, Florida insurance officials are doing to get the word out to people. [Source: Florida Phoenix<\/a>]<\/p>\n Study: Advanced practice registered nurses could benefit seniors, costs<\/p>\n An aging population in Florida is increasing demand for \u201cvastly different and more costly forms of health care,\u201d according to new report from a taxpayer group. The study Hospice and Pallative Care by Florida TaxWatch focuses on palliative treatments \u2013 the management of serious chronic medical conditions \u2013 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<\/a>]<\/p>\n Florida schools to train employees to recognize allergic reactions & administer life-saving medication<\/p>\n A new Florida law now mandates that school boards require public and charter elementary schools to train employees in 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<\/a>]<\/p>\n Deaths from flesh-eating bacteria are on the rise. Who is at risk?<\/p>\n Deaths from \u201cflesh-eating\u201d 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 \u201csomething is off this year.\u201d Still, he said there are too many unknowns to be certain what’s causing the rise in infections at this time. \u201cThis is certainly not normal, that\u2019s one thing,\u201d Jutla said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had that many cases early on in the summer for a very long time.\u201d [Source: Source<\/a>]<\/p>\n Why young Americans dread turning 26: health insurance chaos<\/p>\n When the ACA was voted into law in 2010, what\u2019s 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 \u201cinsurance cliff\u201d for Americans who are turning 26 and don\u2019t have a job that provides medical coverage. [Source: WUSF<\/a>]<\/p>\n ALSO AROUND FLORIDA: <\/p>\n \u203a FIU researchers use AI to detect heart disease early with ‘95% accuracy’<\/a> [Health News Florida] \u203a \u2018I didn\u2019t know that was an actual thing.\u2019 Florida surgeon makes people taller<\/a> [Tampa Bay Times]
The future of heart disease detection and prevention may have started with an opera singer. When Joshua Hutcheson heard about how his wife \u2014 then a grad student \u2014 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?<\/p>\n
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. \u201cI 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, \u201cHuh, that\u2019s pretty interesting. I didn\u2019t know that was an actual thing,\u201d Trinh said. \u201cI got introduced to how people were doing limb lengthening for cosmetic purposes.\u201d Trinh\u2019s online research led him to West Palm Beach.<\/p>\n