To Enhance Rare Disease Patient Engagement, The Food And Drug Administration Must Reckon With Industry Influence Matthew S. McCoyandMeghan C. Halley August 17, 2026

https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/enhance-rare-disease-patient-engagement-food-and-drug-administration-must-reckon The agency has failed to consider ways in which industry influence can shape the patient voices that the FDA hears.

Creating A Continuum Of Care For Dual-Eligible Individuals Alison Roh,Lisa M. Grabert,Eric D. Hargan,andBrian J. Miller August 18, 2026

https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/creating-continuum-care-dual-eligible-individuals Benefits and care should match and move with the dual-eligible individual’s care setting, functional status, clinical needs, and preferences.

Governance Without Law: The Reversal Of Progress Toward Health Equity And How To Counter It Prashasti BhatnagarandM. Gregg Bloche August 4, 2026

https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/governance-without-law-reversal-progress-toward-health-equity-and-counter The Trump administration is seeking changes that go beyond legal requirements. Institutional leaders must demand that any federal constraints on the pursuit of health equity be grounded in law.

Could California’s Health Care Spending Benchmark Become A Global Budget? Keith Marzilli Ericson August 19, 2026

https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/could-california-s-health-care-spending-benchmark-become-global-budget If states, including California, proceed with a penalty scaled to the full spending gap, they should recognize that they are essentially setting a global budget—and that effective global budgets need the apparatus that makes them work elsewhere.

Professional Licensure After Chiles: Reconciling The First And Tenth Amendments Jennifer D. Oliva,Kelly K. Dineen Gillespie,andHeather A. McCabe August 20, 2026

https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/professional-licensure-after-chiles-reconciling-first-and-tenth-amendments Chiles, read closely, says only that a state may not draw an explicit viewpoint line on the face of a licensure statute. Beyond that line, where licensure regimes condition credentials on the profession’s own standards of care, states retain their power.

Stars On The Docket: Medicare Advantage Quality Ratings On Trial Sachin H. JainandRenée Delphin-Rodriguez August 21, 2026

https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/stars-docket-medicare-advantage-quality-ratings-trial Litigation should not be the strategy to achieve Star Rating reform. It is the alarm, not the repair.

The Cannabis Policy Work We Still Have To Do Scott Burris,Carla Berg,andY. Tony Yang August 21, 2026

https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/cannabis-policy-work-we-still-have-do The problem isn’t legalization. It’s how we’ve chosen to legalize: by defaulting to a kind of Wild West capitalism that treats drugs like any other consumer product rather than as substances that carry real risks and deserve serious regulation.