Axios

Next year is shaping up to be tumultuous for Medicare Advantage as insurers continue to shore up their profits.

Why it matters: Benefit cuts and insurer exits from certain markets mean more upheaval for seniors — and right before the midterm elections.

Book club events on Eventbrite jumped 33% during the first half of this year compared with last — driven largely by "hyper niche" meetups, the platform tells Axios.

Why it matters: These clubs are as much about finding community as finishing the book.

The fight against mail-order abortions continues Wednesday as Louisiana state attorneys argue that they undermine the state's abortion ban.

Why it matters: Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office seeks an end to a Biden-era FDA rule that expanded telehealth access to mifepristone, a drug widely used for abortions. If successful, the state case could affect abortion access nationwide.

A new tool visualizes how much premium revenue health insurers keep to cover overhead and, spoiler alert, it's not very much — an average of 15% in 2024.

Why it matters: Just cracking down on insurer overhead won't meaningfully bring down premiums. Making coverage affordable requires lowering health costs.

Most of us aren't taught how to fight well. We tend to bounce between avoiding conflict and "burning the house down," author and conflict-resolution facilitator Priya Parker tells Axios.

Why it matters: Avoiding every disagreement can create what Parker calls "unhealthy peace" in a group, where the real conversations never happen and people are afraid they'll be punished for saying what they think.

As climate change makes extreme heat more frequent and dangerous, states are building systems to manage a hazard they weren't historically built to handle.

The big picture: In a growing number of states, officials are appointing heat officers, writing statewide plans, setting worker protections, funding cooling infrastructure, and coordinating responses across agencies.

Plenty of Americans feel like they're forking over a fortune for groceries — only to get hit with a recall notice that forces them to throw that expensive food out.

Why it matters: While grocery prices are driven by complex trade and energy costs, the safety net meant to keep food safe to eat is fraying, creating a dual crisis of affordability and safety.

Some of the country's largest employers are pulling back on benefits as they face yet another year of near double-digit health care cost growth.

Why it matters: It's a sign that year-after-year spikes in medical costs have real consequences. And corporations are less willing to eat most of the increases.

Gloria Steinem, the journalist, activist and organizer who became the most recognizable face of the U.S. women's movement, died Wednesday at 92.

The big picture: Steinem resisted being cast as feminism's singular face, but for six decades she carried its ideas into mainstream America across its second and third waves.

• Steinem made the personal political: An illegal abortion at 22 preceded decades of fighting first to legalize abortion and then to defend that right.

Brain implants like those being developed by Elon Musk's Neuralink are becoming the latest friction point in the intensifying U.S.-China rivalry in the life sciences.

Why it matters: The devices are bringing new hope to patients with strokes, Parkinson's disease and other neurological conditions. And tech billionaires have fueled advances by pouring billions into biotech startups focused on linking the brain with computers.