Under a new law, Illinois will be the first in the nation to require universal mental health screenings for students in grades 3-12 starting in the 2027-2028 school year. The law’s goal, advocates say, is to “shift from reaction to prevention” by identifying psychosocial needs early and supporting interventions. Schools will also obtain training on the state’s BEACON (Behavioral Health Care and Ongoing Navigation) portal, designed to help connect families to mental health services for children and teens.

About 1 in 7 Americans aged 26 are uninsured—the highest rate among people of any age, according to KFF. The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) set 26 as the age when young people must come off their parents’ insurance and find their own. Yet the marketplace the ACA established for those without employer-provided insurance has been diminished, with young people facing high premiums, plans with brutally high deductibles, and difficult consumer choices. With enhanced subsidies for ACA plans set to expire at the end of 2025, experts worry that more young people will choose to forgo health insurance altogether.

After years of rapid growth, Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment overtook traditional Medicare enrollment in 2023. Yet hopes for MA to constrain spending (i.e., through utilization management and care coordination) have not been realized. In fact, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission estimates that the federal government spends 20% more than if all MA enrollees chose traditional Medicare. As bipartisan calls for MA reform grow louder in Congress, contributors to JAMA outline areas where policymakers might direct their focus, such as cracking down on upcoding and testing changes to MA through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation.

Beyond the obvious moral imperative, addressing the Black maternal health crisis in the U.S. would present deep societal benefits, explain analysts from the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility. Their analysis finds that Black mothers’ higher rates of conditions like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and postpartum depression have long-term consequences beyond the immediate health risks for both mothers and babies. With targeted interventions that minimize chronic illnesses and disabilities resulting from childbirth, the authors share estimates of how the U.S. could dramatically reduce health care costs and add billions in GDP to the economy.

American men die at higher rates than women from 14 of the top 15 causes of death, notes Dr. Helen Ouyang in The New York Times Magazine. The only exception is Alzheimer’s disease, because more women live long enough to develop it. Ouyang explores a growing crisis in men’s health and innovative solutions that are showing progress, such as a comprehensive men’s health clinic established at University Hospitals outside of Cleveland. Recognizing how societal factors fuel poor outcomes in men, the clinic’s model integrates community building and comprehensive care navigation.