About Avalere HealthGuided by a single mission to make EVERY PATIENT POSSIBLE, our Advisory, Medical, and Marketing capabilities move as one, ensuring every patient is identified, supported, treated, and cared for. Equally. Avalere Health is a global strategic partner, perfectly formed to solve the biggest challenges in healthat pace and at scale. We are united across the product lifecycle, uniquely positioned to understand every angle of life, health, and the human condition.Partnering with our clients, we are building a world where healthcare is not a barrier. And no patient is left behind. We are powered by our unique and proprietary model, SenseMaking. Combining strategic tools and human ingenuity, SenseMaking allows us to transform limitations into pathways, obstacles into possibilities, and intricacy into action. Our talented, diverse, and passionate teamknown as SenseMakersstrive each day to make EVERY PATIENT POSSIBLE.We take pride in being part of the Disability Confident Scheme. This helps make sure you can be interviewed fairly if you have a disability, long term health condition, or are neurodiverse. If you'd like to apply and need adjustments made, you can let us know in your application.The Associate Director/Sr. Engagement Strategist is responsible for developing and managing strategic deliverables for clients. This role involves overseeing and executing the day-to-day engagement needs of the business, requiring both strategic and executional expertise.What you'll do: Support engagement lead in the creation of customer engagement strategies that align with the clients business objectives and growth targetsDevelop omni-channel engagement plans, personas, journey maps, ecosystems ad activation briefExperience developing content and tactical strategies for various omin-channels such as website, display, social and CRM and point of care. Clearly communicate and present ideas, POVs, and strategies to internal teams, clients, and prospective clientsCollaborate and co-create with various internal departments such as brand planning, media, account and creative to ensure alignment across all touchpoints, driving both short-term and long-term engagement initiativesLeverage customer data and insights to design engagement strategies that enhance customer experience.Present engagement results to executive leadership to demonstrate the impact of strategies.Use data insights to optimize and refine engagement efforts and recommend new tactics to improve results.Stay current with industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies related to customer engagement.Embrace a culture of collaboration and innovation within the team, encouraging continuous improvement in engagement strategiesAbout you: Must have Patient/DTC experienceExperience as a lead Engagement Strategist8+ years strategic planning or marketing experience in a healthcare/pharma advertising agency environmentRelevant category and launch experienceExperience utilizing strategic tools for analysisSuperb and persuasive communications skills, both written and verbalAdept at storytellingBachelor's degree $105,000 - $125,000 a yearWhat we can offerAvalere Health aims to empower every employee to develop and thrive. We empower our team with the tools, skills, and support needed to think differently and to solve healthcares most complex challenges. At the center of our people-led culture is our Career Experience team, whose mission is to provide every employee with a purpose-driven career. We also pride ourselves on our personalized learning approach to ensure you receive the training you need to help you grow within the company and take advantage of our global scale and scope. We are committed to embedding diversity and inclusion in every aspect of our organization. We encourage diversity of thought, inclusive behavior, and break down barriers to ensure every individual feels valued and encouraged to contribute their unique abilities and potential. As part of our commitment to building a healthier world, every employee is also encouraged to participate in our community engagement efforts, which support a wide range of healthcare programs and wellbeing causes worldwide. We have city hubs across North America, Europe, and Asia, geared toward collaborating, training, socializing, and coming together as a global organization while maintaining and fully supporting flexible working practices. Our compensation and benefits package is benchmarked across the industry. We offer a generous company pension/retirement plan, private medical insurance, comprehensive employee wellbeing initiatives, compelling time-off policy, plus many other excellent employee benefits.We encourage all applicants to read our candidate privacy noticebefore applying to Avalere Health.

** This is a fully remote position. Please only apply to this position if you reside in one of the following US States where Ars X Machina (AXM) currently operates:Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, WashingtonPlease note that we do not offer visa sponsorship for this position. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States (specifically in the states we operate business) without requiring visa sponsorship.Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check.Thank you for your understanding.SUMMARYLead analytics delivery across client accounts including measurement planning, execution, and audience development.Develop and maintain strong client relationships to understand the clients business and category and how our work in media connectsWork in close collaboration with partner teams within the agency to evolve processes and improve the quality of agency work.ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIESDevelop and deliver measurement plans including frameworks and learning agendas.Deliver regular client reporting per agreed upon deliverables in accordance with measurement plans with clear storylines and actionable insights.Create dashboard visualizations that are visually compelling and showcase campaign performanceLead working sessions with partner teams on analysis, insights, opportunities for optimization, and forward looking recommendations.Support audience development during campaign planning including sizing, profiling, and segmentation.Manage vendor relationships related to measurement and data delivery to ensure all data required to deliver on measurement plans is available and accurate as needed.REQUIREMENTS6+ years of experience in advertising and analytics, including measurement and insights development, and story telling.Experience agency side is a must.Experience in a supervisory role required.Bachelor's degree in quantitative discipline such as mathematics, economics, statistics, computer science required, or relevant experience in a quantitative roleExperience with advertising measurement solutions such as MMM, MTA, ad effectiveness, location data, and other sales attribution solutions requiredWorking knowledge of audience research platforms such as Nielsen MRI and Resonate highly desirableExpert in dashboard visualization, Excel, Powerpoint, Datorama experience highly desirableDeep understanding of advertising platforms and data sources such as Google Campaign Manager, Google Ads, Web Analytics, social media platforms, DSPs, ad verificationExcellent communicator with strong design and storytelling skills.Outstanding collaboration skills with a proven ability to work cross-functionally in order to establish and meet shared organizational goals.Strong presentation skills to both clients and internal stakeholders with the ability to share complex analyses in a way that is easy to comprehend.Highly detail-oriented with excellent organizational, time management, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.Consistently meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment, ability to prioritize multiple deliverables.Execute projects with excellent project management skillsLead and contribute in audience work, goal setting, and measurement planning for new businessActively stays up to date on the industry landscape, gives direction of latest trends for thought leadership pieces and provides support in the development of POVs or published work.Living in Pacific time zone a plusThe above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and skills required of personnel so classified. ABOUT Ars X Machina:Ars X Machina (AXM) is a full-service media planning and buying agency headquartered in San Francisco, with remote employees throughout the US. We develop plans across all mediaDigital, TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, Social, Mobile, Email, Direct Mail, and Search. We handle all aspects of media, from beginning to endresearch, planning, negotiating, insertion orders, billing, tracking, and optimization. We work with B2B and B2C campaignsdirect response and brand campaigns. We pride ourselves on our negotiation skills, leadership, relationships with our clients and vendors, efficiency (we move faster than big agencies), transparency, and high level of client service.

In this three part series cephalopunk models and simulates a die roll in Blender.Source

Chilling effect on free speech: Trump wants green card applicants already legally in the US to hand over social media profilesUSCIS said the vetting of social media accounts is necessary for the enhanced identity verification, vetting and national security screening. Critics say it crushes free speechRhian Lubinin New YorkSunday 23 March 2025 21:00 GMTTrump's border czar Tom Homan says he doesn't care what judges saySign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington emailI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read ourprivacy policyThe Trump administrations proposal to vet social media profiles of green card applicants already legally in the U.S. has been condemned in initial public feedback as an attack on free speech.Visa applicants living abroad already have to share their social media handles with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but the proposal under President Donald Trump would expand the policy to those already legally in the country who are applying for permanent residency or seeking asylum. USCIS said the vetting of social media accounts is necessary for the enhanced identity verification, vetting and national security screening.The agency also said it was necessary to comply with Trumps executive order titled Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats. In a review of information collected for admission and benefit decisions, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) identified the need to collect social media identifiers (handles) and associated social media platform names from applicants to enable and help inform identity verification, national security and public safety screening, and vetting, and related inspections, the agency announced on March 5.President Donald Trumps administration has proposed vetting the social media handles of immigrants already legally in the U.S. who are applying for green cards or permanent citizenship. The plan has been condemned as a violation of the First Amendment. (AP)The agency is collecting feedback from the public on the proposal until May 5, the majority of which are overwhelmingly opposed at the time of writing. So the US is heading for authoritarian now, an anonymous commenter said. Anything that the current administration doesnt like means bad. Pure ideology means total destruction. This is a violation to the First Amendment. Chilling Effect on Free Speech: The fear of government scrutiny of online expression will undoubtedly stifle free speech, another comment read. This is particularly concerning for individuals from countries with different political climates, who may fear the misinterpretation of their online activity. Out of the 143 comments, 29 mentioned a violation of free speech. This policy undermines the fundamental values that make America a beacon of freedom, including free speech, privacy, and human rights, another person wrote. Civil rights groups have raised concerns that the policy proposal would disproportionately impact critics of Israel and the Trump administrations handling of the conflict. It follows the detention of green card holder Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and protest organizer, labeled pro-Hamas by the Trump administration. (REUTERS)The proposal follows the detention of green card holder Mahmoud Khalil, labeled pro-Hamas by the Trump administration, and the deportation of Brown University doctor, Rasha Alawieh, a H1-B visa holder. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials inspected the kidney medics phone and determined she followed the religious teachings of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. They also claimed she openly admitted attending his funeral while in Lebanon.Civil rights groups have raised concerns that the policy proposal would disproportionately impact critics of Israel and the U.S. governments handling of the conflict.This policy would disparately impact Muslim and Arab applicants seeking U.S. citizenship that have voiced support for Palestinian human rights, Robert McCaw, director of government affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told The Intercept. Collecting the social media identifiers of any potential green card applicants or citizens is the means to silencing their lawful speech.McCaw added that he also worried that peoples activity would be continuously monitored on social media even if they became U.S. citizens. Ma Yang, pictured, was deported in February to Laos, a country she has never set foot in. Yang joins a growing number of visa and green card holders in the U.S. who have found themselves swept up in the Trump administrations aggressive immigration crackdown. (Facebook)The new proposal comes as the Internal Revenue Service is close to an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow officials to use confidential tax data to confirm names and addresses of people they suspect are in the country illegally, according to the Washington Post.ICE could submit names of suspected illegal immigrants to the IRS so the agency can cross-reference on confidential taxpayer databases, according to insiders. The agreement has alarmed career IRS officials who fear it risks abusing a privacy law intended to build criminal cases, not enforce criminal penalties, the newspaper reports.As well as mass deportations, the Trump administrations immigration crackdown has turned its attention to green card and visa holders in recent weeks. Earlier this month Fabian Schmidt, a 34-year-old German electrical engineer, who has held a green card since 2008, was arrested and detained at Boston Logan International Airport.And a Milwaukee mother who is a permanent U.S resident and lived here since she was eight-months old was deported to Laos, a country shed never been to previously, after agreeing to a plea deal over cannabis charges. More aboutDonald TrumpImmigrationWhite HouseJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesMost PopularPopular videosSponsored Features

Asia In Brief Chinas Cyberspace Administration and Ministry of Public Security have outlawed the use of facial recognition without consent.The two orgs last Friday published new rules on facial recognition and an explainer that spell out how orgs that want to use facial recognition must first conduct a personal information protection impact assessment that considers whether using the tech is necessary, impacts on individuals privacy, and risks of data leakage.Organizations that decide to use facial recognition must data encrypt biometric data, and audit the information security techniques and practices they use to protect facial scans.Chinese that go through that process and decide they want to use facial recognition can only do so after securing individuals consent.The rules also ban the use of facial recognition equipment in public places such as hotel rooms, public bathrooms, public dressing rooms, and public toilets.The measures dont apply to researchers or to what machine translation of the rules describes as algorithm training activities suggesting images of citizens faces are fair game when used to train AI models.The documents linked to above dont mention whether government agencies are exempt from the new rules. The Register fancies Beijing will keep using facial recognition whenever it wants to as its previously expressed interest in a national identity scheme that uses the tech, and used it to identify members of ethnic minorities.Zoho wins Indias web browser challengeZoho has won the competition to create a made-in-India web browser that the nations government will champion as idea for local users.Indias government launched the Web Browser Development Challenge in 2023 and called for competitors to develop apps that use a root certificate issued by the nations Controller of Certifying Authorities so local users would not be dependent on certificates issued by entities controlled by other government.Zohos Ulaa browser won the competition the company won 1 Crore ($115,000) to ensure its compatibility with iOS, Windows, and Android. Two startups, Team PING and Team Ajna, were named as first and second runners up.Indias government hasnt outlined a plan to have device-makers adopt the browsers, which may be hard to achieve as the nations dominant mobile carrier Jio is so close to Google that the two collaborated on a custom version of Android for low cost home brand handsets.Volt Typhoon-adjacent gang targets Taiwanese infrastructureCiscos Talos threat-hunters last week reported attacks on critical infrastructure in Taiwan, including telecommunications, healthcare, and information technology operations, by a crew that uses similar tactics to those employed by the probably-China-backed Volt Typhoon and Flax Typhoon crews.Talos named the group UAT-5918 and assessed it as motivated by establishing long-term access for information theft, uses a combination of web shells and open-sourced tooling to conduct post-compromise activities to establish persistence in victim environments for information theft and credential harvesting.UAT-5918 often gains access by exploiting a known, and unpatched, vulnerability. Once it compromises and org, it moves laterally and looks for juicy info to exfiltrate.X apparently sues IndiaElon Musks social network X has reportedly sued the government of India over laws that allow content takedowns.India has argued it needs laws to take down content that could threaten national security, but its government has sometimes decided that posts about mass protests against its policies should be taken down. Xs court filing, seen by Reuters, aims to fight Indias laws on grounds they violate freedom of speech.Japan claims new cyber-law wont hurt privacyJapans government last week tabled a new cybersecurity bill that will shift the nation to an active defense stance including offensive operations against offshore targets felt to represent a threat to national security.Digital Minister Masaaki Taira said the law follows international norms.The bill faces opposition at home as it allows Japans government to obtain info from operators of critical infrastructure such as electricity and railways to obtain communications information to monitor for potential cyberattacks.Minister Taira assured Japans parliament personal information is not the target, and assured lawmakers that the bill includes safeguards that will preserve privacy.Aussie think tank claims Chinese harassmentThe Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a think tank founded and funded by Australias government, last week claimed it had become the target of Chinese trolls after publishing research critical of the Middle Kingdom.Staff have been threatened, harassed & abused, with female staff targeted most viciously. Most of the claims made in Chinese state media are false, including that ASPI has halted its China research, wrote ASPI executive director Justin Bassi.

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Over the past decade, Dubai-based Network International has become one of the dominant payment processors across the Middle East and Africa, thanks in part to a pair of acquisitions.However, many large incumbents can fall prey to slower innovation, opening the door for smaller, faster-moving startups. The latest development is Enza, a fintech founded in 2022 by Hany Fekry, a former managing director at Network, along with another ex-Network executive Hamish Houston.The fintech, which has raised $6 million in seed funding, is building infrastructure for banks and fintechs, offering a range of local payment solutions, from cards to wallets to real-time payments.Before launching Enza, the founders managed global acceptance, processing, and consumer finance departments at Network International. While Network was building a robust payments network across the Middle East and Africa, focusing primarily on the acceptance side of things, they felt a massive gap in creating comprehensive solutions for banks and fintechs, especially in Africa.When neither party could find an alignment with Network, they resigned to start Enza, which officially launched in January 2023. Our divergence prompted us to take a step back and rethink how to address these underserved needs in the market, CEO Fekry told TechCrunch.The founders of Enza say theyve built the company using lessons from their time at Network International and its subsidiary, DPO Group. But unlike those firms, which focused largely on card acceptance and merchant acquiring, Enza is taking a broader approach, serving both sides of the transaction.Enzas platform is designed for banks and fintechs on the issuing side, and SMEs and merchants on the acceptance side. The startup is initially targeting Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa, three of the continents largest financial markets.Payments acceptance into broader fintech scalePayments are often the first entry point into formal finance for the millions of underserved or unbanked small businesses across Africa. Enza wants to help these businesses accept in-person and online payments at little to no cost a strategy it thinks will allow banks and fintechs to build long-term relationships.Once those are in place, Enzas infrastructure enables cross-selling of lending, savings, insurance, and other financial services.Payments are the gateway, says Andrew Key, who joined Enza as an executive director last year. But the value is in the data and the services you can layer on top.That strategy also plays to the changing dynamics between banks and fintechs in Africa. For years, banks have ceded infrastructure and particularly SME market share to players like Flutterwave, Fawry, Paymob, and Moniepoint, now Nigerias largest merchant acquirer. But banks still hold key advantages, namely broader service offerings and regulatory backing.Banks have realized they gave up too much ground to fintechs, Houston said. We want to give them the tech to compete and win it back.Similarly, despite the rise of fintechs across Africa, banks remain the central, regulated players behind most payment aggregators. But many still lack clear visibility into what their aggregator partners or downstream merchants are doing.Thats one of Enzas functionalities, the founders say: Giving banks more transparency and control over their payment ecosystems so they can stay compliant while scaling.The Dubai-based startup also broadens the payment options available to banks. Enza integrates with local card schemes like Verve, AfriGo, and Meeza, alongside global networks like Visa and Mastercard.It also connects with real-time payment infrastructure, including Nigerias NIBSS, South Africas PayShap, and Egypts InstaPay, as well as mobile money and telco wallets, while supporting QR codes, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), and contactless payments features.Leveraging founders networksEnza is leveraging its founders decades of experience and deep relationships across the continent to quickly secure contracts with several banks. For instance, Fekry previously served as chief commercial officer at Emerging Markets Payments (EMP), which was acquired by Network International, where he later became a managing director.Across their careers, the team has worked with nearly 200 banks. But this time, theyre going for quality over quantity. Were not trying to replicate that scale, Houston said. Were targeting 30 to 40 high-quality bank relationships.While the company only began operations last year, the Dubai-based fintech has already secured over 10 million monthly contracted transactions through live bank partnerships across six African markets, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, and South Africa. Enza charges banks on a per-transaction (per-click) basis. Those volumes are growing 35 to 40% month-over-month and are expected to double in the next two years.The company bootstrapped in its early years, with the founders funding it themselves. When they decided to raise outside capital, the founders said they didnt shop the deal widely. Instead, Algebra Ventures and Quona Capital led the $6 million seed round. The Enza leadership team has an impressive track record of starting, growing, and exiting fintech businesses across the continent, said Tarek Assaad, managing partner at Algebra Ventures, on why his firm backed the two-year-old fintech.The new capital will go toward expanding the team and rolling out new products for its banking clientele across Africa.We founded Enza to solve real infrastructure problems across Africa, Fekry said. Weve spent our careers trying to make sure our families and communities can access financial products as people in Europe or the U.S. at a low cost and anytime they want.

Genetics testing company 23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. to initiate the sale of its assets. Alongside the announcement, the companys co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki separately said she is leaving the company to become an independent bidder for the company.After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, we have determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best path forward to maximize the value of the business, Mark Jensen, chair and member of the Special Committee of the Board of Directors, said in a statement.We expect the court-supervised process will advance our efforts to address the operational and financial challenges we face, including further cost reductions and the resolution of legal and leasehold liabilities. We believe in the value of our people and our assets and hope that this process allows our mission of helping people access, understand, and benefit from the human genome to live on for the benefit of customers and patients.The 23andMe Special Committee released news today indicating their plan to take the company through the Chapter 11 process. While I am disappointed that we have come to this conclusion and my bid was rejected, I am supportive of the company, and I intend to be a bidder. I have resigned as CEO of the company so I can be in the best position to pursue the company as an independent bidder, Wojcicki said in a post on X.23andMe has had a troublesome few years after it went public in 2021. Best known for its saliva-based test kits that offer customers a glimpse into their genetic ancestry, the company has seen its market capitalization plummet more than 99% from a peak of $6 billion after it failed to turn a profit. Then in 2023, 23andMe suffered a massive cyberattack in which the data of its nearly 7 million customers, including users genetic predisposition and ancestry reports, was stolen by hackers. In September 2024, the company settled a lawsuit related to the data breach by paying $30 million, and soon afterwards, Wojcicki said she was exploring taking the company private.At the time of writing, the companys market value was around $48 million, with its stock trading at $1.79.

The U.S. government subsidizes healthcare for 91% of American patients. And now, that funding is at ... More risk of going away.gettyMost Americans believe their healthcare is private, and they prefer it that way. Gallup polling consistently shows the majority favors a system based on private insurance rather than government-run healthcare.But heres a surprising reality: 91% of Americans receive government-subsidized healthcare.Unless youre among the uninsured or the few who receive no subsidies, government dollars are helping pay your medical billswhether your insurance comes from an employer, a privately managed care organization or the online marketplace.Now, as lawmakers face mounting budget pressures, those subsidies (and your coverage) could be at risk. If the government scales back its healthcare spending, your medical costs could skyrocket.Heres a closer look at the five ways the U.S. government funds healthcare. If you have health insurance, youre almost certainly benefiting from one of them:Medicare, the government-run healthcare program for those 65 and older, covers 67 million Americans at a cost of more than $1 trillion annually. Approximately half of enrollees are covered through the traditional fee-for-service plan and the other half in privately managed Medicare Advantage plans.Medicaid and CHIP provide health coverage for around 80 million low-income and disabled Americans, including tens of millions of children. Even though 41 states have turned over their Medicaid programs over to privately managed care organizations, the cost remains public. Total Medicaid spending is $900 billion annuallythe federal government pays 70% with states footing the rest.The online healthcare marketplace is for Americans whose employer doesnt provide medical coverage or who are self-employed. This Affordable Care Act program offers federal subsidies to 92% of its 23 million enrollees, which help lower the cost of premiums and, for many, subsidize their out-of-pocket expenses. The Congressional Budget Office projects that a permanent extension of these subsidies, which are scheduled to end this year, would cost $383 billion over the next 10 years.Veterans and military families also benefit from government healthcare through TRICARE and VA Care, programs covering roughly 16 million individuals at a combined cost of $148 billion for the federal government annually.Employer-sponsored health insurance comes with a significant, yet often overlooked, government subsidy. For nearly 165 million American workers and their families, U.S. companies pay the majority of their health insurance premiums. However, those dollars are excluded from employees taxable income. This tax break, which originated during World War II and was formally codified in the 1950s, subsidizes workers at an annual government cost of approximately $300 billion. For a typical family of four, this translates into approximately $8,000 per year of added take home pay.With 91% of Americans receiving some form of government healthcare assistance, the idea that U.S. healthcare is predominantly private is an illusion.Now, as the new administration searches for ways to rein in the growing federal deficit, all five of these programs (collectively funding healthcare for 9 in 10 Americans) will be in the crosshairs.Financial Pressures: Why No Ones Coverage Is Truly SafeIn February 2025, the federal budget deficit reached $307 billion, up 4% from the previous year and nearly 2.5 times Januarys deficit. Total federal spending surged to $603 billion, a 6% year-over-year increase, pushing the fiscal year-to-date deficit to $1.147 trilliona staggering 38% higher than the previous year.As the national debt grows, so do the interest payments required to sustain it. The U.S. now spends more on interest payments than on Medicaid, and those costs are rapidly approaching Medicare levels.Twelve percent of the federal budget already goes toward debt interest payments, and this share is expected to rise sharply. Many of the bonds used to finance existing debt were issued back when interest rates were much lower. As those bonds mature and are refinanced at todays higher rates, federal interest payments are projected to double within the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).With deficits mounting and borrowing costs soaring, most economists agree this trajectory is unsustainable. Lawmakers will eventually need to rein in spending, and healthcare subsidies will almost certainly be among the first targets. Policy experts predict Medicaid, which the House has already proposed cutting by $880 billion over the next decade, and ACA subsidies for out-of-pocket costs will likely be the first on the chopping block. But given the CBOs projections, these cuts wont be the last.A Better Way: Three Solutions To Lower Healthcare Costs Without CutsCutting some or all of these healthcare subsidies may seem like the simplest way to reduce the deficit. In reality, it merely shifts costs elsewhere, making medical care more expensive for everyone and increasing future government spending. Heres why:Eliminating subsidies doesnt eliminate the need for care. Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), hospitals must treat emergency patients regardless of their ability to pay. When millions lose insurance, more turn to ERs for medical care they cant afford. The cost of that uncompensated care doesnt vanish. It gets passed on to state governments, hospitals and privately insured patients through higher taxes, inflated hospital bills and rising insurance premiums.Delaying care drives up long-term costs. People who cant afford doctor visits skip preventive care, screenings and early treatments. Manageable conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes then spiral into costly, life-threatening complications including heart attacks, strokes and kidney failures, which ultimately increase government spending.The solution isnt cutting coverage. Its fixing the root causes of high healthcare costs. Here are three ways to achieve this:1. Address The Obesity EpidemicObesity is a leading driver of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and breast cancer, which kill millions of Americans and cost the U.S. healthcare system hundreds of billions annually. Congress can take two immediate steps to reverse this crisis:Tax high-calorie, highly processed foods and use the revenue to subsidize healthier options, making nutritious food more affordable for all Americans.Cap the price of GLP-1 weight-loss medications (such as Ozempic and Wegovy) to match prices in peer nations, ensuring these highly effective treatments are accessible.2. Enhance Chronic Disease Management With TechnologyIn every other industry, broad adoption of generative AI technology is already increasing quality while reducing costs. Healthcare could do the same by applying GenAI to more effectively manage chronic disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, improved control of these lifelong conditions could cut the frequency of heart attacks, strokes, kidney failures and cancers by up to 50%.With swift and reasonable FDA approval, generative AI and wearable monitors would revolutionize how these conditions are managed, providing real-time updates on patient health and identifying when medications need adjustment. Instead of waiting months for their next in-office visit, patients with chronic diseases would receive continuous monitoring, preventing costly and life-threatening complications. Rather than restricting AIs role in healthcare, Congress can streamline the FDAs approval process and allocate NIH funding to accelerate these advancements.3. Reform Healthcare Payment ModelsUnder todays fee-for-service system, doctors and hospitals are paid based on the how often they see patients for the same problem and the number of procedures performed. This approach rewards the volume of care, not the best and most effective treatments. A better alternative is a pay-for-value model like capitation, in which providers do best financially when they help keep patients healthy. To encourage participation, Congress should fund pilot programs and create financial incentives for insurers, doctors, and hospitals willing to transition to this system. By aligning financial incentives with long-term health, this model would encourage doctors to prioritize prevention and effective chronic disease control, ultimately lowering medical costs by improving overall health.The Time For Change, Advocacy Is NowIf Congress slashes healthcare subsidies this year, restoring them will be nearly impossible. Once the cuts take effect, the financial and political pressures driving them will only intensify, making reversal unlikely.The voices shaping this debate cant come solely from industry lobbyists. Elected officials need to hear from the 91% of Americans who rely on government healthcare assistance for some or all of their medical coverage. Now is the time to speak up.