ChiefHealthcareExecutive (3/26, Southwick) reports, “Hospitals have been warning that changes to Medicaid programs would mean millions of Americans would lose coverage in the near future, and a new analysis offers an estimate on how many would be affected.” The report, from the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, suggests that “as many as five to 10 million Americans would lose coverage from Medicaid in 2028.” The report indicates “between 3 million and 7 million could lose Medicaid coverage due to new work requirements, while 2 million to 3.1 million will lose coverage due to their eligibility being checked more frequently.”

Related Links:

— “Millions could lose Medicaid coverage, even in best scenario, report says,”Ron Southwick, Chief Healthcare Executive, March 26, 2026

HealthDay (3/26, Gotkine) reports, “Mentally passive sedentary behavior may increase the risk for dementia, while mentally active sedentary behavior may reduce the risk, according to a study.” Investigators came to this conclusion after examining “associations of mentally passive and mentally active sedentary behaviors with incident dementia using data from the Swedish National March Cohort, including 20,811 adults aged 35 to 64 years.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Dementia Risk May Vary With Mentally Active Versus Passive Sitting,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay, March 26, 2026

Healio (3/26, Feliciano) reports, “Maladaptive patterns of smartphone use and greater daily screentime were associated with body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors, a study” found. Investigators came to this conclusion after evaluating “the overlap between problematic smartphone use, which they defined as ‘maladaptive use mirroring a behavioral addiction,’ and symptoms of disordered eating in a systematic review of 35 studies.” The findingswere published in JMIR Mental Health.

Related Links:

— “Eating disorder symptoms linked to problematic smartphone use,”Octavia Feliciano, Healio, March 26, 2026

The New York Times (3/25, Kang, Mac, Tan) reports a Los Angeles jury found Wednesday that Meta and YouTube “harmed a young user with design features that were addictive and led to her mental health distress.” The jury found that “Meta must pay $4.2 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages, and YouTube must pay $1.8 million.” The plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman, “accused social media companies of creating products as addictive as cigarettes or digital casinos.” According to the Times, the “landmark decision…could open social media companies to more lawsuits over users’ well-being.” The finding “validates a novel legal theory that social media sites or apps can cause personal injury. It is likely to factor into similar cases expected to go to trial this year.” Wednesday’s verdict follows a similar “ruling this week by a New Mexico jury” that found “Meta liable for violating state law by failing to safeguard users of its apps from child predators.”

Related Links:

— The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (3/24, Neff) reports a study found that “when a parent dies unexpectedly due to violence, self-harm or addiction, the trauma for a child left behind is immense.” The researchers “looked at decades of data to understand the survival rates of children in the state who lost a biological parent to three specific causes: Homicide, suicide or drug overdose.” They found that “those who lost a parent to one of these three causes were far more likely to die before the age of 18 than the general population.” Overall, the researchers “linked 150 excess childhood deaths in Michigan over the 14-year study period directly to the loss of a parent.” The study was discussed in a JAMA Network Open research letter.

Related Links:

— “Parental Loss Due to Drugs, Violence Raises Child Death Risk by 2,000%,”Deanna Neff, HealthDay, March 24, 2026