The American health insurance system is no longer a neutral mechanism for spreading risk or paying for care. It has become a finely tuned profit machine—engineered by massive, multi-billion-dollar insurance conglomerates that have vertically integrated nearly every step of the health care journey.

Fewer Americans are signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year. New federal data shows a 3.5% drop in enrollment, with around 800,000 fewer people selecting plans compared to last year.

Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight as 2026 arrived, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year.

As states strive to curb health insurers' use of artificial intelligence, patients and doctors are arming themselves with AI tools to fight claims denials, prior authorizations and soaring medical bills. Several businesses and nonprofits have launched AI ...