Rose Meltzer

A sizable percentage of Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 are worried about their healthcare coverage as they head toward retirement, according to a new poll from the University of Michigan. Although some of these concerns include things people can’t directly control, such as policy changes, many are focused on maintaining their current coverage provided through an employer while reducing their healthcare expenses.

Public health experts have been studying the “social determinants of health,” which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as “conditions in the places where people live, learn, work and play affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes,” for decades. The greater healthcare system has slept on addressing these factors for a long time, but it started to wake up in 2018.

As its leadership will tell you, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releases thousands of pages of regulations every year—11,000, give or take a few. Most of the American public has no idea what most of these regulations do or mean, and understandably so: Even to seasoned healthcare experts, they can seem distant, dry, and confusing. But this year, several new Medicaid policies sent shock waves across the country.