The percentage of Americans without health coverage fell by half – from 16% to 8% – between 2010 and 2025, thanks largely to protections and coverage expansions ushered in by the federal Affordable Care Act. But those gains are now being threatened. A comprehensive new survey by the Commonwealth Fund finds that coverage and affordability are declining, even before harmful policy changes take effect next year that will restrict coverage even more for people with low incomes. Specifically, the report found that nearly half of working-age adults were “inadequately” insured in 2026 – meaning they either had no coverage, experienced a gap in coverage, or had insurance that did not provide affordable access to care.
These coverage declines are consistent with the end of two pandemic-era policies that had increased insurance coverage: one that had enabled Medicaid enrollees to keep their coverage throughout the pandemic, and a more generous premium tax credit for purchasing ACA plans, which had triggered a near doubling of enrollment in the marketplaces between 2020 and 2025. The expiration of the latter policy led to average annual premiums increasing by $750 to $4,035, depending on people’s incomes.5 In addition, the Trump administration ended the special enrollment period created during the Biden administration that had simplified the enrollment process for people earning less than 150 percent of poverty.
Press Robinson on what’s next for Callais
Civil rights pioneer Press Robinson, 89, was the first African American elected to the East Baton Rouge School Board in 1980, and led the fight to end the discriminatory at-large voting system that kept Black candidates from getting elected in the parish. More recently, he served as the lead plaintiff in Robinson v. Callais, the landmark case that eventually led to the Supreme Court overturning a key plank of the Voting Rights Act. Robinson spoke with another Louisiana pioneer, Maxine Crump, founder of Dialogue on Race, about what comes next. Their conversation was excerpted by The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate:
Let us remember that voters of color deserve an equal voice in our democracy and that racism in America unfortunately is still alive and well. We must avoid being fooled by the specious claim that discrimination no longer exists. The Supreme Court’s decision in Callais is a direct frontal attack on African American voting rights, constitutionally protected rights of Blacks that were earned with much suffering and sacrifice by our ancestors. Callais is not over yet. The Supreme Court remanded it to the three-judge panel in Shreveport. And on Oct. 27, there’s gonna be a hearing because the Callais plaintiffs don’t want any majority-Black district in Louisiana, so they’re going to claim that District 2 is a racial gerrymander and ask the court to declare such.
Louisiana is a deportation hub
The sleepy city of Alexandria has become the epicenter of the Trump administration’s mass deportation push. New data analyzed by The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate shows the central Louisiana hamlet was the starting point for more than 1 in 3 “third country” deportation flights, where immigrants are shipped off to countries where they have no previous ties. That includes a Los Angeles bartender who was snatched up in New Orleans as she was about to attend Tales of the Cocktail and later shipped off to St. Lucia.
As she battled illness in ICE detention, the woman retained New Orleans immigration attorney Jeremy Jong to try to help secure her release. She was deported before Jong could accomplish that. In an interview, Jong said the case highlighted how the threat of immigration enforcement has eroded New Orleans’ reputation for hospitality. “People getting arrested by ICE when they’re on their way to New Orleans to go to a conference should trigger alarm bells for every elected leader here,” Jong said. “If they want to keep New Orleans a good place to visit, they are going to have to make sure that ICE is not around here.”
Childcare costs weigh on voters
The cost of childcare continues to rise faster than the rate of inflation, and averaged more than $13,000 per year in 2025, according to Child Care Aware of America. As “affordability” remains the political buzzword in the midterm elections, candidates across the political spectrum are highlighting the need for affordable options. The Associated Press reports:
The urgency over early childhood policy was accelerated by the pandemic. Daycare closures and weekslong quarantines laid bare the necessity and financial precarity of the childcare industry. To keep providers open, the federal government spent more than $50 billion on the industry, funding staff training, higher wages, protective gear and childcare assistance for more families. In 2021, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, proposed offering subsidies to most American families so they would never pay more than 7% of their household income on childcare. It was narrowly defeated in Congress.
Number of the Day
414 – Number of U.S. House districts (of 435) seen as leaning heavily toward either a Republican or Democrat, meaning fewer than 5% of districts are truly competitive. (Source: Louisiana Illuminator via Cook Political Report with Amy Walter)