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Merrill Goozner
@gooznews.bsky.social
1K followers 32 following 84 posts

Journalist, former editor of Modern Healthcare, specializing in health care for past 24 years. In prior two decades I served as business, economics, foreign and national correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and other publications. .. more

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Merrill Goozner, is an American journalist, author and educator. He served as editor of Modern Healthcare and ModernHealthcare.com, a weekly news magazine and daily news website covering the healthcare industry, from December 2012 to April 2017. Since then, he writes a weekly column for the magazine as well as writes and edits GoozNews, an online newsletter. .. more

Economics 52%
Public Health 23%
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · 1d
Grand jury refuses to indict Chicago protesters carrying legally registered guns who were arrested by ICE as "armed rioters." "Less evidence than a ham sandwich," judge says.

blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/08/f...
Feds Had 'Less Evidence Than A Ham Sandwich' In Dismissed Armed Protester Case, Lawyer Says
In a rare move, a federal grand jury refused to indict a couple arrested while legally carrying firearms in Broadview. Prosecutors also abandoned charges against a third protester arrested on Sept. 27...
blockclubchicago.org
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · 1d
To keep the government open, Democrats insist the GOP renew the enhanced premium subsidies for ACA health insurance plans. It's a worthy fight. But they need to start talking about the cost crisis facing the 164 million Americans with private health insurance, too.

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
The cost crisis beyond the ACA
No matter what Congress does on ACA premium subsidies, both employer and employee premiums will rise at near double-digit rates next year. Democrats need to be talking about that, too.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · 1d
To keep the government open, Democrats insist the GOP renew the enhanced premium subsidies for ACA health insurance plans. It's a worthy fight. But they need to start talking about the cost crisis facing the 164 million Americans with private health insurance, too.

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
The cost crisis beyond the ACA
No matter what Congress does on ACA premium subsidies, both employer and employee premiums will rise at near double-digit rates next year. Democrats need to be talking about that, too.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · 3d
I returned from two weeks away to a city on the verge of occupation. Read my firsthand impressions of what's going on in Chicago here: open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
Chicago on the verge of occupation
Biden-appointed judge hesitates restraining Trump's unconstitutional assault.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · 16d
washingtonmonthly.com/2025/09/23/t...
Republicans Should Be Apoplectic Over What Trump and Kennedy Are Doing to Tylenol
Conservatives used to hate it when Democrats “picked winners and losers.” What will they say when Donald Trump does it?
washingtonmonthly.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · 16d
Trump’s FDA puts the precautionary principle in play.

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
Trump's FDA puts the precautionary principle in play
The agency's head cited the well-known but rarely deployed concept to convince pregnant women to avoid using acetaminophen. Why not do the same for global warming and PFAS chemicals?
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · 27d
Check out my latest podcast, an interview with the CEO of a small health insurer who has some interesting ideas about how to reform an industry that is failing to deliver on its promise to deliver better health at lower cost.

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
Can the health insurance industry be reformed?
The leader of a small non-profit insurer in California thinks it can, and offers his prescription for change in this week's GoozNews podcast.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Sep 4
What sycophancy in the service of trying to get RFK Jr. to back off. www.statnews.com/2025/09/03/p...
Scientists working on NIH and BARDA grants developed the Covid vaccine, not Donald Trump. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla should be ashamed.
Pfizer’s CEO defends Covid vaccines, suggests Trump may deserve a Nobel Peace Prize
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla defended the development of Covid vaccines and suggested President Trump may deserve a Nobel Peace Prize because of Operation Warp Speed.
www.statnews.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Aug 27
Just out:

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
FDA issues disease-spreading vaccine guidelines
The RFK Jr. cronies running the agency just issued Covid vaccine guidelines guaranteed to increase the incidence and mortality from a disease that is once again on the rise.
open.substack.com

gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Aug 20
My latest:

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
Why stealth privatization of veterans’ care is doomed to fail
There’s a better solution to solving the Veteran Health Administration’s problems. Open it up to everyone.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Aug 12
The shocking cost of Long Covid, based on a new study just out in JAMA ...
open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
The long-term cost of Long Covid
Cases are rising again, and so are number of people suffering from its long-term effects. It's already taking a toll on the economy.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Aug 5
Catching up on the news, I thought it worthwhile to highlight the latest malfeasance at the FDA:

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
FDA advisory committee system on life support
Its new leaders are holding stacked hearings whose biased rosters have undisclosed conflicts of interest.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Aug 1
What happens if a good idea is turned into its opposite?

gooznews.substack.com/p/trumps-lat...
Trump's latest hustle for Big Pharma
Forcing Europeans to raise their drug prices while U.S. consumers get a small break will preserve the status quo for the drug industry
gooznews.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Jul 30
What's behind the firing of Dr. Vinay Prasad at the FDA? See: open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
Hope and hype trump science again
The ouster of Vinay Prasad at FDA over the Sarepta saga shows the people nominally in charge of the agency are not the ones making the decisions.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Jul 28
This becomes available at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning.

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
The cloud inside the silver lining
The proposed physician pay rule throws a bone to primary care physicians while the One Big Ugly Bill aims an axe at their poorest patients.
open.substack.com

gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Jul 27
Covid cases are on the rise again, increasing the number of Long Covid cases that are inundating the health care system. For an in-depth discussion of this mounting health and economic challenge, listen to the latest GoozNews podcast:

gooznews.substack.com/p/podcast-th...
Podcast: The health and economic costs of Long Covid
A conversation with Dr. Phillip Alvelda, a former official at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency sounding the alarm about the threat posed by Long Covid.
gooznews.substack.com
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Reposted by Merrill Goozner

philmattera.bsky.social
Phil Mattera @philmattera.bsky.social · Dec 5
If the so-called Department of Government Efficiency were serious about addressing waste and abuse, it would not be targeting civil servants. The real source of those problems is federal contractor fraud. dirtdiggersdigest.org/archives/7691
The DOGE Blind Spot
Donald Trump and Elon Musk, both masters at making grandiose statements that usually have little substance, are at it again in the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency. The two, along w...
dirtdiggersdigest.org
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Reposted by Merrill Goozner

petermshane.bsky.social
Peter M. Shane @petermshane.bsky.social · Feb 12
The title of my essay published today in The Atlantic is pretty much what I'd have thought to be a unanimous understanding of the Constitution: “Presidents May Not Unilaterally Dismantle Government Agencies.” Yet Trump's assault on checks and balances continues. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Presidents May Not Unilaterally Dismantle Government Agencies
That’s not how separation of powers works under the U.S. Constitution.
www.theatlantic.com
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Reposted by Merrill Goozner

bobjherman.bsky.social
Bob Herman @bobjherman.bsky.social · Apr 8
In 2021, Medicare Advantage insurers pulled in $33 billion by adding diagnosis codes to patients’ medical records. UnitedHealth Group took in *42%* of that total on its own. “United is just coding a lot more.” @tarabannow.bsky.social reports: www.statnews.com/2025/04/07/m...
Study shows how UnitedHealth uses coding to rake in extra cash from Medicare Advantage
Health insurers in the Medicare Advantage business have a big incentive to diagnose their members with lots of health conditions.
www.statnews.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Jul 24
To: Columbia University president Claire Shipman
From: A J-school alumni
Re: Signing a $200 million "settlement" with the Trump regime

I will no longer be making my small contributions to the journalism school. Please use the part of university's $15 billion endowment that you didn't give to Trump.
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Jul 23
Every day brings another Trump administration assault on public health, the health care workforce, and workers generally. At some point, the working class will notice.

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
A steady stream of assaults on health
Each day brings an executive action or proposed rule that will make life worse for millions of Americans.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Jul 21
How FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is undermining science-based decision-making at the agency.
open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
Opinion masquerading as science
Public trust in FDA decisions will plummet if Commissioner Marty Makary abandons the agency's "gold standard" principles.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Merrill Goozner

gregsargent.bsky.social
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · Jul 1
Not that anyone cares, but now that JD Vance has cast the tiebreaking vote for $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts, I'm reupping these Vance quotes from 2017, in which he flatly declared that Medicaid cuts like these betray Trumpism's promises to the working class:

newrepublic.com/article/1954...
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Jul 1
I'm running out of metaphors. Why the One Big Ugly Bill is Robin Hood in reverse.
open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
Robin Hood in reverse
If passed, the GOP's One Big Ugly Bill will cap off more than a half century of upward redistribution of wealth and income, making America more unequal than any time in its history.
open.substack.com
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gooznews.bsky.social
Merrill Goozner @gooznews.bsky.social · Jun 25
Employers understand how #Medicaid subsidizes nearly 20 million of their workers. Why doesn't the GOP Congress?

open.substack.com/pub/gooznews...
How Medicaid subsidizes employers
The drastic cuts to health care coverage in the One Big Ugly Bill will undermine the U.S. economy and make the workforce less productive.
open.substack.com
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