The New York Times (1/13, Abelson, Sanger-Katz) says some “1.4 million fewer people have enrolled in [ACA] coverage this year in the face of soaring premiums, according to an early report, following the expiration of the enhanced subsidies that helped lower the cost of health insurance for millions of Americans.” Data released “by the federal government on Monday indicated that 22.8 million Americans had enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans starting Jan. 1, down from 24.2 million enrolled through the end of the sign-up period last year. They are the first official figures showing the effects of the change in policy.” These “new data covered sign-ups through Jan. 3. People can still enroll through Thursday.”

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— The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (1/13, Solomon) reports a study found that “weekend catch-up sleep (WCS) may reduce the incidence of daily depressive symptoms in late adolescents and young adults.” The researchers observed “that participants with WCS had 41 percent lower odds of daily depressive symptoms versus those without WCS. Results were similar from causal inference and traditional multivariate regression models. A twofold greater benefit on depressive symptoms was seen for both healthy weekday sleep duration and an optimal time.” The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

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— “Weekend Catch-Up Sleep Tied to Fewer Depressive Symptoms in Teens,”Mark Arredondo, HealthDay, January 13, 2026

NBC News (1/12, Lovelace Jr.) reports, “As open enrollment for Affordable Care Act insurance comes to an end, people are moving to cheaper plans or dropping their coverage entirely, according to state and federal data.” In 2025, “Congress failed to extend enhanced tax credits for [ACA] customers,” leading to “soaring monthly premiums across the U.S.” On Monday, CMS “released datashowing that nationally, sign-ups are down more than 800,000 from last year.” According to NBC News, “fewer new enrollees are signing up and fewer people are renewing their coverage.” In “Idaho, Massachusetts and Virginia, state health officials say roughly twice as many people have dropped their coverage for 2026 compared with the same point last year.” Meanwhile, “in Pennsylvania, terminations have more than tripled, to above 70,000, officials say, and are still growing.”

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— “ACA sign-ups fall as higher premiums push people off plans,” Berkeley Lovelace Jr. , NBC News, January 12, 2026

Healio (1/12, Rhoades) reports, “Certain depressive symptoms experienced during midlife were tied to a greater risk for dementia, with some increasing the risk by around 50%, according to recently published data.” One study author said the results “show that dementia risk is linked to a handful of depressive symptoms rather than depression as a whole. … This symptom-level approach gives us a much clearer picture of who may be more vulnerable decades before dementia develops.” “Six depressive symptoms emerged as robust midlife indicators of increased dementia risk: Losing confidence in myself” , “Not able to face up to problems” , “Not feeling warmth and affection for others”, “Nervous and strung-up all the time”, “Not satisfied with the way tasks are carried out”, and “Difficulties concentrating” . Associations were independent of established dementia risk factors, including APOEε4 status, cardiometabolic conditions,”

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— “Six depressive symptoms during midlife raise dementia risk,”Andrew (Drew) Rhoades , Healio , January 12, 2026

Healio (1/8, Herpen) reports, “The rate of alcohol-related hospitalizations in the U.S. stabilized between 2016 and 2022, but mortality rates, length of stay and total health care costs all increased, according to data.” Researchers found that “the mean length of hospital stay for alcohol-related issues increased from 5.6 to 6.2days.” Study results indicate that “hospitalization costs increased even after accounting for inflation and amounted to $32.6 billion in 2022.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Ancillary concerns related to alcohol-related hospitalizations increased from 2016 to 2022,”Robert Herpen , Healio, January 8, 2026

Psychiatric News (1/8) reports, “APA has filed a lawsuit along with a class of patients and families against health insurer EmblemHealth…over the company’s alleged use of a ‘ghost network’ of mental health” professionals. APA CEO and Medical Director Marketa M. Wills, MD, MBA, said, “Ghost networks’ impacts are widespread and harmful. … Not only does this practice hurt patients and families who are seeking care, it also harms clinicians who are dedicating their career to helping these individuals.” APA President Theresa M. Miskimen Rivera, MD, said, “When insurance companies use ghost networks, they are not only reaping profits by misleading consumers, they are also hurting people who are in need of mental health care.”

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— “No Ghosting: APA Files Lawsuit Against EmblemHealth, Psychiatric News , January 8, 2026

HealthDay (1/7, Gotkine) reports, “Dried blood collection derived from capillary blood shows potential for Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarker testing, according to a study.” Researchers “examined the potential of dried plasma spot (DPS) and dried blood spot (DBS) analysis, derived from capillary blood, for detecting AD biomarkers, including phosphorylated tau at amino acid 217 (p-tau217), glial fibrillary acidic protein, and neurofilament light.” The investigators “identified strong correlations between DPS p-tau217 and venous plasma p-tau217. There was a progressive increase in DPS p-tau217 with increasing disease severity, with good accuracy for predicting cerebrospinal fluid biomarker positivity.” By “using paired venous plasma samples, glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light were successfully detected, with strong correlations between DBS and DPS, respectively.” The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

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— “Dried Blood Collection Shows Potential for Alzheimer Disease Biomarker Testing,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay , January 7, 2026

MedPage Today (1/7, Firth) reports, “Yoga alongside standard buprenorphine therapy hastened opioid withdrawal recovery and improved autonomic regulation compared with buprenorphine alone, an early-stage randomized trial in India showed.” Researchers found that “among 59 participants with opioid use disorder (OUD) in the intent-to-treat analysis, those in the yoga group recovered from withdrawal faster than those in the control group…with a median stabilization time of 5 days versus 9 days, respectively.” Participants in the yoga group “had better heart rate variability improvements, with large effects on low frequency power, high frequency power, and low frequency/high frequency ratio.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HCP Live (1/6, Derman) reports a study found that “changing therapists or therapy approach does not offer additional benefit for adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) who do not respond to initial psychotherapy,” although “further psychotherapy after initial non-response produces modest reductions in depressive symptoms.” The study “showed a modest but statistically significant reduction in depressive symptoms after continuing psychotherapy. However, investigators observed no significant differences in symptom reduction, response, or remission rates between the 3 treatment strategies.” Investigators concluded, “Switching therapist or both therapist and method does not appear to offer additional benefit, but also does not hinder outcomes.” The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

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— “Switching Therapists for Psychotherapy Offers No Advantage in MDD,”Chelsie Derman , HCP Live, January 6, 2026

Psychiatric News (1/6) reports a meta-analysis of 62 studies suggests that “children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to receive negative parenting – such as lack of warmth or responsiveness to developmental needs, and greater hostility, abuse, or family conflict – than children without the disorder.” Researchers observed that “children with ADHD showed significantly lower levels of positive parenting and higher levels of negative parenting than controls. There were group differences across all 14 parenting factors, but the strongest effects were found for authoritative parenting, warmth, abuse, family conflict, and hostility.” The analysis was published in the Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

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— “Significant Differences Found in Parenting of Children With ADHD, Psychiatric News, January 6, 2026