Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:
___
July 10
The Washington Post says policy is what’s driving the rising ACA premiums
If it wasn鈥檛 obvious before that the famous bill passed to make health care more affordable has done anything but, it should be now: Individual plans on the Affordable Care Act exchanges are projected to spike by in 2027, according to recent insurer filings.
The ACA imposed a wide array of mandates on health insurance. Those mandates are expensive. To make up for the increase in costs, the ACA distributes subsidies so consumers don鈥檛 feel the impact of the increase.
Many of these subsidies are 鈥渁dvance鈥� subsidies that go directly from the federal government to insurers based on the customer鈥檚 income. That means insurers can raise premiums without customers having to pay more.
As of 2025, of enrollees in the exchanges received subsidies, up from 86 percent in 2021. If nearly everyone on the exchanges needs subsidies, that鈥檚 a clear sign that the product being sold is not affordable.
Even with the expiration of the expanded subsidies that were adopted during the covid pandemic, nearly all enrollees will still receive subsidies. Enrollees with incomes over four times the poverty level, who were previously not eligible for subsidies, only accounted for of enrollees in 2024.
The ACA encourages insurers to raise costs. Take the , which requires insurers to spend 80 to 85 percent of premium revenue on medical care. In theory, that limits spending on administration costs.
In practice, though, the policy means insurers make more money by spending more on medical care, regardless of whether it improves health outcomes or serves customers well. The higher spending translates to higher premiums. And because the vast majority of customers aren鈥檛 actually paying higher premiums as long as their incomes stay the same, the insurers just rake in the subsidies.
Analysis from the Paragon Health Institute finds that the average premium on ACA exchanges increased by $5,898 between 2014 and 2026, and federal taxpayers covered of the increase. If the only way the ACA makes insurance affordable is by transferring an ever-increasing amount of money each year directly from the government to insurers, that鈥檚 an enormous failure in what was supposed to be a market-based system.
But that鈥檚 what has happened, and it鈥檚 happened on a larger scale than projected. , the Congressional Budget Office forecast that premium subsidies would cost $55 billion in 2027. The is that they will actually cost $93 billion.
If the goal of the ACA was to funnel federal dollars to insurers while degrading whatever price signals were left in the health insurance market, it couldn鈥檛 have been designed much better.
ONLINE:
___
July 13
The New York Times says the world must open its eyes to the horrors in Sudan
Five months after the United Nations reported acts of genocide in Sudan, another human rights catastrophe may be imminent.
The Rapid Support Forces, a rebel group that controls parts of the country and has a history of committing atrocities, has gathered outside El Obeid, a strategically important city, and nearly it. About 600,000 people are facing severe shortages of food, water and medicine, and the R.S.F. has already killed some civilians through drone attacks. 鈥淭he signs from El Obeid are clear and unmistakable: Another human rights catastrophe is unfolding in Sudan,鈥� the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Volker T眉rk, said. There are many reasons that Sudan鈥檚 war is often overlooked, despite being bloodier than conflicts that receive far more attention. Sudan does not fit into larger global political debates in the ways that the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East do. by those on other continents, a reflection of both racial and economic double standards. Sudan has been so long ravaged by war that efforts to bring peace can seem pointless.
None of these explanations are acceptable, and they feed the terrible costs of the continuing conflict. The war in Sudan is one of the world鈥檚 most lethal, with a death toll estimated by independent monitors . Millions of Sudanese have been driven from their homes, some of them flooding into neighboring countries. Beyond the innocent death and suffering in Sudan itself, the longer the fighting drags on, the greater the chance that regional instability will spread. The world needs to make a bigger effort to halt the in Sudan, and the threat to El Obeid should inspire urgent action. The United States is uniquely positioned to push regional powers to intervene to halt the current threat and to bring an end to the war. American influence over Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, nations that have aided the warring sides, can restart peace talks and initiate a cease-fire. The Trump administration should urgently recommit to peace in Sudan and protect the many innocent civilians who face the threat of sexual assault, torture and death.
Bringing peace to Sudan will not be easy. Since it won independence in 1956 from Britain and Egypt, Sudan has endured decades of instability, including coups, long civil wars and the . The key divide is ethnic rather than religious. More than 90 percent of Sudan鈥檚 residents are Muslim, but they are split between an Arab majority and several non-Arab Black ethnic groups. In the Darfur genocide, Arab militias backed by Sudan鈥檚 government killed hundreds of thousands of Black civilians.
The current conflict began after Omar al-Bashir, a dictator who ruled the country for three decades, cut subsidies for fuel and wheat in 2018, and . The following year, the military and the private militias that have long dominated parts of Sudan united to topple the government. But their alliance proved temporary, and the military and militias soon began fighting one another, leading to the civil war. In addition to fighting for territory, the two sides are trying to control natural resources, including gold, oil and agricultural products. Both have committed atrocities.
On one side is the Sudanese Armed Forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, whom many countries recognize as the head of state. It has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the nearly century-old radical Islamist group, and has received aid from Iran and Egypt. The United Nations has the armed forces of committing war crimes, including torture, sexual violence and the use of chemical weapons.
On the other side are the Rapid Support Forces, a predominantly Arab group Gen. Mohamed Hamdan. The United Nations says that his forces have committed acts of genocide in recent years, massacring members of non-Arab ethnic groups in western Sudan since 2023. General Hamdan also led groups that committed the atrocities in Darfur two decades ago. The Rapid Support Forces describe themselves as anti-Islamist and, according to U.S. officials, have received aid from the United Arab Emirates.
The result is a war of exceptional brutality that . If even in Sudan is correct 鈥� 150,000 people 鈥� it is twice the official toll in Gaza and comparable to the toll among Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. Millions of Sudanese have also been driven from their homes, some of them flooding into neighboring countries.
What might the world do to stop the bloodshed?
The most important role is among the Middle Eastern countries that have been backing one of the two sides. Saudi Arabia, which is officially neutral, has helped the Sudanese Armed Forces. The United Arab Emirates and other aid to the Rapid Support Forces. Rather than fueling the fighting, both countries should use their influence to stop it.
The United States also has a crucial role to play. The Trump administration, , has tried to end the war without success. In September, the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates proposed a road map to peace, starting with a three-month truce followed by negotiations on a transitional civilian government.
The Sudanese Armed Forces rejected the plan. The Rapid Support Forces pretended to welcome it, but soon began a merciless assault on el-Fasher, a regional capital in western Sudan, that included the killing of 6,000 civilians in three days after the city fell, the U.N. . U.N. officials said that the attack bore 鈥渢he defining characteristics of genocide.鈥�
With the , the world must urgently take action. The Trump administration should re-engage, as should European leaders who say they want to play a bigger role in global affairs in response to President Trump鈥檚 sporadic isolationism. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should stop their shortsighted jockeying for influence in Sudan and prioritize ending the massacres.
The 2020s have set a grim benchmark. Global deaths in armed conflicts since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, ending a long period of relative peace. The continuing tragedy in Sudan has been among the largest contributors to the new era of bloodshed. The rest of the world should act to prevent the rising danger to civilians and to end the war in Sudan once and for all.
ONLINE:
___
July 10
The Boston Globe asks if the federal government is trying to kick sick people off Medicaid
Is the federal government trying to kick sick people off Medicaid? It certainly seems like it.
Congress made the policy choice to impose work requirements on Medicaid 鈥� which in itself is likely to result in people losing coverage largely for like failing to file paperwork on time. Now, released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in June governing how to implement those work requirements is imposing even more administrative burdens, threatening to kick even those who are physically unable to work off their plans.
As Stacey Nee, a spokesperson for MassHealth, the Medicaid program in Massachusetts, wrote in a statement to the editorial board, 鈥淭hese new requirements are intentionally designed to be so burdensome to meet that people lose their care.鈥� The statement says the new requirements are 鈥減utting people with serious medical conditions, working families, and vulnerable residents at risk of losing the coverage they depend on 鈥� not because they鈥檙e ineligible, but because of unnecessary red tape.鈥�
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell is co-leading a group of 26 states to block the CMS rule. Regardless of how the judge rules, the federal government should withdraw the rule and craft a new one that gives states the ability to implement the work requirements in a way that doesn鈥檛 overly burden sick and disabled enrollees.
颁辞苍驳谤别蝉蝉鈥檚 requires any able-bodied person on Medicaid to work, volunteer, or attend school 鈥� the logic being, as , 鈥淓mployment has been shown to be an important factor leading to long-term beneficiary health and well-being.鈥� In imposing the requirement, Congress ignored 鈥檚 Medicaid work requirements suggesting that these requirements don鈥檛 increase the number of people on Medicaid who are working, but serve mainly to boot people off Medicaid because they don鈥檛 submit reports.
But even supporters of work requirements acknowledge that some people should be exempt. Congress, in the law, exempted people who are 鈥� 鈥�; blind; disabled with a substance use disorder, mental disorder, or physical, developmental, or intellectual disability that impairs activities of daily living; or have a 鈥渁 serious or complex medical condition.鈥�
The problem is the seeks to add another condition: Someone who is medically frail or has a serious or complex medical condition has to show that the condition 鈥渟ignificantly impairs鈥� their ability to work.
That means states can鈥檛 grant exemptions because someone has been diagnosed with cancer or Alzheimer鈥檚 disease 鈥� a determination that could potentially be made automatically through insurance claims data. Instead, a person needs to prove to the state that the illness impairs their ability to work 鈥� and it鈥檚 unclear how that determination can be made. In 2027, the state can accept 鈥湶醣鸨舸�-补迟迟别蝉迟补迟颈辞苍鈥� that someone is unable to work when they have no other reliable information, but the federal government limits patients鈥� ability to use 鈥� , suggesting outside documentation would be required. But as the points out, most community health providers don鈥檛 have the expertise, or time, to do job readiness evaluations.
Jennifer Tolbert, deputy director of the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured for health policy organization KFF, told the editorial board that the rule 鈥減laces an administrative burden on providers.鈥� It鈥檚 not clear how a physician should evaluate, for example, if a person has a condition that occasionally flares up and prevents them from working, or if a construction worker has a disability that prevents them from doing construction but wouldn鈥檛 preclude an office job.
The lawsuit argues that the rule runs counter to what Congress intended 鈥� to exempt people who are medically frail or have serious illnesses 鈥� and to what CMS initially told states by putting people with serious illnesses at risk of losing insurance coverage.
Massachusetts has that 300,000 people will lose health insurance coverage through MassHealth or the Health Connector due to various provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A MassHealth spokesperson said the state is still calculating any additional impacts of the CMS rule.
To their credit, Massachusetts health officials have been developing systems to match MassHealth enrollment data with other data sources like tax records to determine if someone is employed, in school, pregnant, or has a child under 13 so the state can automatically determine if a person is exempt from or is already complying with the work requirements, saving them the hassle of filling out paperwork.
The Legislature also appropriated $10 million for the state to work with consumer advocacy group Health Care for All to inform MassHealth members about the new requirements. Hannah Frigand, senior director of HelpLine and Public Programs for Health Care for All, said the group will provide funding to community partner organizations 鈥� like shelters, faith-based groups, and social services 鈥� to do outreach and help people fill out paperwork.
Additionally, the fiscal 2027 state budget, which Governor Maura Healey signed on Thursday, appropriates around $30 million for MassHealth to hire staff, communicate with members, and improve its data systems so the state can help people maintain coverage under the new rules.
The work requirements will be onerous enough for many MassHealth enrollees. Federal Medicaid officials should work with states to make it as easy as possible to comply. They shouldn鈥檛 impose rules that require a low-income person with Parkinson鈥檚 disease to jump through bureaucratic hoops to justify why they can鈥檛 work in order to receive health insurance.
ONLINE:
___
July 12
The Guardian says the world loses when the U.S. and Iran overplay their hands
The cycle鈥檚 familiarity should not obscure the gravity of the consequences as the US and Iran return to threats, strikes and a futile search for an exit from war via escalation. On Sunday, Tehran the strait of Hormuz again. The World Food Programme is already this year owing to the illegal war launched by the US and Israel. Vulnerable countries are suffering most as existing crises are compounded: an extra 2.5 million people in Somalia and 2.3 million in Afghanistan are struggling to meet basic food needs.
Even de-escalation would not fix this humanitarian crisis. The full impact on food production has yet to be felt. The strait was key to global fertiliser exports; as prices soared, many farmers cut back on use. The drying up of remittances from migrant workers in the Gulf hurts Asian .
In Iran itself, and , thousands of people, including civilians 鈥� many of them children 鈥� have been killed and essential infrastructure destroyed. Iranians are sliding deeper into economic catastrophe, and the regime is cracking down harder under the cover of war. Tehran鈥檚 retaliation has caused death and damage across the region. Consumers worldwide are paying more for energy and food.
With the midterms approaching, the domestic impact helped push Mr Trump towards agreeing a memorandum of understanding (MOU), with 60 days to negotiate a broader deal. Yet less than a month in, strikes have resumed, after Iran struck ships transiting the strait and the US retaliated. At issue is a . Its vagueness was not an oversight, but an attempt to accommodate clashing positions. It states that Iran will restore shipping, ensure safe passage and work with Oman on the strait鈥檚 future administration, with the possibility of future fees apparently left open. Iran interpreted that as cementing, not overturning, its new control 鈥� and targeted ships which then used a separate US-coordinated route.
Rhetoric from both sides does not help. Tehran decreed, , Ali Khamenei, that revenge for his killing 鈥渕ust inevitably be carried out鈥�. Mr Trump that the US military will 鈥渄ecimate and destroy all areas of Iran鈥� if he faces any assassination attempt, and has called its leaders 鈥渟cum鈥�. Yet while Mr Trump has said that the MOU and ceasefire are over, he maintains that talks will continue. This is not so much a repeat as a doom loop; each iteration increases suspicion and complicates issues. The US can U-turn again to allow Tehran to export oil 鈥� but the sector cannot recover when customers have no confidence.
Ending the war depends on resolving an issue the war created: Iranian control of the strait. The immediate priority should be to facilitate humanitarian shipments. Beyond that, Oman and others are attempting to establish the exit route from a crisis which its principals have been unable to find. would allow navigational fees to be charged, but on a non-compulsory basis and under the aegis of a UN body. That has potential, though leverage probably matters more than profit to a militarised, more hardline regime. Mr Trump wants to claim a triumph, not a compromise. But neither side can secure decisive victory, and neither wants an open-ended war, even if they are unwilling to make the concessions needed. The rest of the world must try to coax them back to their senses 鈥� or live with the consequences.
ONLINE:
___
July 10
The Philadelphia Inquirer says Donald Trump is assaulting free and fair elections
Let鈥檚 begin with the obvious: is out to .
We know this because the president commits many of his in broad daylight.
For the past year, Trump has revved up his election-tampering efforts by throwing everything at the proverbial wall.
He called for nationalizing elections, pushed to redraw election maps, slashed funding for election security, moved to restrict voting, targeted election workers, rewarded election deniers, and continued to repeat baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was fixed.
Trump even about canceling the November midterms. The White House said it was a joke, but his track record indicates anything is possible.
Trump has court orders, trampled presidential norms, and even to uphold the Constitution. He has cheated at everything, including the , , , and , so why not elections?
If the Great Experiment in self-government that the founders began 250 years ago is to continue, we need free and fair elections. But Trump is working feverishly to tilt the playing field to ensure win.
Last summer, he pushed GOP lawmakers in Texas to take the rare step of congressional maps in the middle of the decade to add more Republican seats.
Lawmakers in other red states, including Florida, Ohio, and Missouri, Trump鈥檚 blatant call for gerrymandering. Some blue states, like California, to do the same to offset the Republican scheme, sparking an undemocratic arms race.
The U.S. Supreme Court by further obliterating the Voting Rights Act that previously provided for majority-minority districts. With that safeguard dismantled, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Alabama carved up Black majority districts to eliminate Democratic seats.
Polls deep dissatisfaction with Trump and , who control the House and Senate. He fears hearings and investigations into his , , and if take control of either chamber.
鈥淚f we don鈥檛 win the midterms 鈥� I鈥檒l get impeached,鈥� Trump earlier this year.
Hence, the all-out attack on the election system.
Trump for the federal government to seize control of elections 鈥� even though the Constitution put the states in charge.
He the end of mail-in voting 鈥� even though presidents do not have the power to change voting laws.
Trump an executive order that would require voters to show proof of citizenship and that all mail-in ballots be received by the time polls closed 鈥� moves that were , but the president remains relentless.
This week, Trump鈥檚 Justice Department criminal charges against Pennsylvania鈥檚 top election officials if they let noncitizens vote. Other states received a similar warning, even though the issue is and already illegal.
But Trump鈥檚 baseless rhetoric helps to sow distrust in elections 鈥� something he has done throughout his tumultuous decade in politics.
Trump has demonstrated he will cross any line. As president, he an insurrection as part of a broad conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential results 鈥� an act of treachery that has earned its place in infamy.
Trump was for his monthslong effort to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power, but the charges were after he returned to the White House and assumed control of the U.S. Department of Justice.
To this day, Trump refuses to admit he lost the 2020 presidential race, despite producing of widespread voter fraud and abusing the legal system by 60 failed election cases before state and federal judges.
In fact, Trump is still seeking to overturn the 2020 results.
In February, he Tulsi Gabbard, the then-director of national intelligence, to attend an FBI search of election facilities in Georgia, where Trump lost in 2020.
The FBI recently more than 200 agents to search for election fraud in Georgia, six years after exhaustive state and federal investigations found none.
During a ballyhooed visit to Arizona to discuss election security, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a single case of election fraud.
But a Republican-led investigation did find top Trump campaign officials had extensive contacts with Russian operatives during the 2016 election.
For all of Trump鈥檚 about rigged elections, he remains the poster child for . Now, he is willing to undermine national security to get the election results he wants. He states change election rules, such as requiring voter identification, or risk losing federal terrorism prevention funds.
Trump also put his political gain above the public鈥檚 pain. He to sign a landmark bipartisan bill designed to lower housing costs until Congress passed legislation that would require for all voters.
Trump has taken other steps recently to weaken election security.
One directive an FBI task force created to combat foreign influence in U.S. elections, and another the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that Trump created.
The moves come as Russia, China, and Iran to meddle in U.S. elections, just as they did during Trump鈥檚 victories in and .
Before Jan. 6, 2021, it was hard to imagine a sitting president inciting a mob to the U.S. Capitol, police, in offices, and look to hang the vice president.
So, how much further will Trump go to get his desired election results?
With Trump, there is no bottom.
ONLINE:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
