Good morning, it’s Wednesday, July 8, 2026. In today’s edition, ACA premiums set to spike again; AIDS assistance programs face budget shortfalls; Maryland Dems set redistricting session:
Top Stories
HEALTHCARE: Health insurers participating in Affordable Care Act exchanges are proposing a second straight year of double-digit rate hikes in 2027. A new report from KFF found insurers are proposing a median premium increase of 14% to offset rising costs, inflation and labor shortages. Insurers cited increased morbidity risk in the ACA insurance pool after nearly 3 million people were dropped from coverage in recent months. (Pluribus News)
MORE: At least 19 state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs have reported budget deficits this fiscal year, driven by increased expenses in helping clients fill prescriptions and pay health insurance premiums. Four states have introduced eligibility limits to control costs, and two states have capped the number of people who can enroll. The programs support nearly a quarter of the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV. (Pluribus News)
REDISTRICTING: Maryland lawmakers have set a special session in August to consider a constitutional amendment to change congressional redistricting rules. The measure requires three-fifths votes in both chambers to appear on November’s ballot. Democrats are hoping to redraw an Eastern Shore district held by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R). (Baltimore Sun)
SOCIAL MEDIA: The Massachusetts Senate will take up social media regulations aimed at protecting minors on Thursday. The bill would require platforms to adopt default settings for minors, disabling addictive feeds, autoplay and infinite scroll and banning notifications between midnight and 6 a.m. (State Affairs)
GAMBLING: A plan to tax prediction markets will return to the New Jersey Assembly in the fall, Speaker Craig Coughlin (D) said this week. The bills, which passed committees on party-line votes, would enact a 9% surtax on prediction markets’ net income. (New Jersey Monitor)
WILDFIRES: California and the nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance said Tuesday the first three satellites engineered to detect wildfires launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The satellites can detect a wildfire as small as a typical schoolyard, before they grow into serious conflagrations. Colorado, Australia and Portugal are also testing the new technology. (State Affairs)
Wildfire geeks know how cool this new technology is.
SNAP: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has ordered Tennessee, Colorado, Nebraska and West Virginia to halt plans to exclude candy and soda from SNAP programs, after a federal judge ruled against a similar plan in Iowa. The judge ruled USDA misapplied federal law when approving waiver requests. (State Affairs)
TECHNOLOGY: Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) will sign legislation requiring adult websites to verify user ages before allowing them to access sexually explicit content. The measure applies to websites in which more than a third of material is considered harmful to minors. (Missouri Independent)
In Politics & Business
VOTING: The U.S. Justice Department has sent letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia threatening criminal prosecution of top elections officials if ballots cast by noncitizens are counted in this year’s midterm elections. The letter asks elections officials to respond within five days with details about how states will comply with bans on noncitizen voting. (New York Times)
ARIZONA: A Noble Predictive Insights survey finds U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R) trouncing fellow Rep. Dave Schweikert (R) in the race for the Republican nomination for governor by a 60% to 10% margin. Nearly half of Republican voters say they’ve already cast ballots ahead of the July 21 primary. (Noble Predictive Insights)
CRIME BLOTTER: Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, was arrested last week in Baldwin County, Ala., on felony drug charges. Officers recovered marijuana joints and methamphetamine from Gillum’s car after he was pulled over for driving erratically. (Yellowhammer News)
PEOPLE: Louisiana Sen. Larry Selders (D), 44, died suddenly Tuesday night at his son’s football practice. Selders had been hospitalized earlier this year with heart problems, missing the final month of the legislative session. Selders was serving his first term in office. (Baton Rouge Advocate)
By The Numbers
3: The number of states that failed to enact new budgets ahead of the July 1 beginning of the new fiscal year. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and South Carolina lawmakers are still debating budget plans. (State Affairs)
$6.66 billion: The amount U.S. airlines spent on jet fuel in May, 84% higher than the year before. Airlines used slightly less fuel than the same month last year, though average per-gallon prices exploded from $2.21 in May 2025 to $4.09 this May. (Associated Press)
$35 million: The amount Delaware lawmakers budgeted for expansion of the state’s Legislative Hall. Gov. Matt Meyer (D) used his line-item veto power to nix the funding. The total cost to upgrade the state house is projected at $116 million. (Delaware Public Media)
Off The Wall
Two teens who allegedly drank alcohol and shot water beads from a toy gun while riding in a Waymo driverless vehicle in San Mateo were delivered to an unexpected destination: A parking lot where police were waiting. In a social media post, the city’s police department said underage drinking and brandishing toy guns were “bad ideas.” (San Jose Mercury News)
A group of students at the University of Pisa constructed a paper airplane with a wingspan of more than 65 feet, the largest ever flown. The plane, built by a group calling itself Project Icarus, flew 193.5 feet, breaking a Guinness World Record. (UPI)
Forgive us for saying, but that story doesn’t work out terribly well for Icarus.
Quote of the Day
“Maybe that’s good policy. Maybe it’s not, maybe we should talk about it. But we won’t.”
— North Carolina Rep. Phil Rubin (D), on a provision in the state budget that will allow automatic license plate readers on state roads. (State Affairs)