Even employer health insurance is becoming unaffordable

Plus: The valuable boringness of long walks  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Mandy Oaklander | October 23, 2026     Even when employers offer health insurance, workers can’t always afford it. New research out yesterday from the Commonwealth Fund found that more working-age adults are uninsured this year than in 2024—and a separate KFF survey found that workers’ premium contributions for employer-sponsored health plans are up 9% since last year. My colleague Alana Semuels wrote about this troubling trend, which one expert told her was “unsustainable.” TODAY’S TOPICS Take the long way Unfurl and unwind More Americans go uninsured Stitching a second act         QUICK CHAT What happens when you take a long, long walk? I’ve grown fascinated with the culture of long-distance walking in England, where I live—and where more than 90,000 miles of public footpaths criss-cross the countryside. Martin Mau is a psychologist in Denmark who has written at length about the study of long walks as mental-health interventions. I recently spoke to him about his work. —Veronique Greenwood This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. nikom1234—Getty Images What do people mean when they say “long-distance walking”? It’s difficult to be precise. A long walk for some would be short for others. But I would say you need to have the feeling that you are away, disconnected. It needs to feel long, subjectively. It also has to be very simple. You walk from A to B, and you don't need to do many other things while you do that.  There is a destination, yes, but this is not in your mind at all times. You have this openness in front of you. What kinds of mental-health benefits do psychologists think we might get from long-distance walking? There are three different types people study. There’s the idea that being in nature can facilitate the restoration of cognitive resources. When you are in a natural surrounding, the type of attention that you use to navigate this terrain is different from, say, an urban setting. There's more room for what's called “soft fascination,” and this can be restorative.  Another large group of studies focus more on the feeling of competence or strength, also related to the concept of flow. You feel that you master or accomplish something by doing this.  The third one is a little more abstract, more existential: where long-distance walking can be used to process difficult experiences or life transitions—say, divorce or problems in the job market.  Have you done any long-distance walking yourself? Very little, and just to be totally honest, I find it extremely boring. While I was writing my PhD, I felt I had to do it. I have to get some real experience with it. But the nothingness of it hit me so hard. I was just so bored. And if I were to take my own advice, I would say that's precisely why you should do it: to be confronted with this nothingness.  Some people say that when there is nothing there, then you automatically start to contemplate what's actually important. If there's trouble at home, trouble at the job, then this comes up, and then you digest this at a time when you cannot be distracted.  Did that happen to you? I don't know. Maybe if I had continued. I didn't go for that long because, as I said, I didn't have the patience.         SPONSORED BY TIGERDATA You're Running Three Databases. You Only Need One. Events in one database, embeddings in another, analytics in a third. That's three systems and the pipelines between them, for one app. TimescaleDB does all three in Postgres: hypertables, pgvector, continuous aggregates. One system, no pipeline, no drift. Get $1000 Credit         HOW WE RELAX I watch my plants turn over a new leaf Angela Haupt I surround myself with rare aroids—tropical plants with some very showy foliage—and watching them grow is one of my favorite ways to unwind. Just look at my current favorite showstopper: the monstera devil monster. How could I ever get tired of staring at it? The real excitement happens when a new leaf unfurls. There’s so much anticipation in watching it slowly open, revealing its shape and pattern. Tending to something and getting to see it thrive brings me a lot of joy. —Angela Haupt         SPONSORED BY WISPR FLOW Find what the client said, weeks later Ask Wispr Flow Notetaker one question across every meeting you've had and get an answer with citations back to the call. Pricing, deadlines, who owns what. Free to try on Windows and Mac. Get Wispr Flow Notetaker         TODAY I LEARNED More U.S. adults are uninsured Health insurance got more expensive in 2026, after Congress decided last year not to renew expiring premiums for plans on the Affordable Care Act. New research published yesterday found that 11.2% of working-age adults went without health insurance this year, compared to 8.9% in 2024.  Many of these people might have decided that even employer-sponsored plans are too expensive. Another new survey out yesterday found that employers are shifting more costs onto workers. –Alana Semuels Read the full story here.         SPONSORED Is your company shaping the future? TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2027 entries are now open. Every year, TIME asks what it means for a company to be influential. Every year, the answer changes. With expanded recognition opportunities to celebrate influence across industries, impact initiatives, and, for the first time, workplace innovation, there are more ways than ever to stand out. Submit your company.          WHAT WE’RE READING MAHA leader Calley Means stepped down from his health advisory role in the Trump Administration yesterday, Chantelle Lee writes for TIME. A new KFF poll finds that confidence in most childhood vaccines remains high in the U.S., but Republicans and Democrats are divided in their views of COVID vaccine safety and whether it’s healthier to space out vaccines for kids.   He learned to quilt while serving decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. NPR tells the remarkable story of Gary Tyler, whose artwork is now being celebrated in museums.       More Newsletters from Click to sign up. THE BRIEF +FUTURE PROOF +INSIDE TIME +IN THE LOOP +WORTH YOUR TIME + Subscribe to TIME Email us: healthmatters@time.com Received this from a friend? 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Why you should turn your walk into a color hunt

Plus: A major advance in cancer care  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Mandy Oaklander | October 22, 2026     When I recently started taking walks—my main type of exercise these days—I didn’t want to default to listening to music or podcasts. Surely the sounds of the outdoors would be therapeutic, I figured. So I pretty much just zone out as I loop around my neighborhood. My colleague Angela Haupt, innovator that she is, explored an upgrade: pick a color, then focus on spotting it in your surroundings. Going on a color walk certainly brightens my day, and Angela will teach you exactly how to do it below. TODAY’S TOPICS A major advance in cancer The year by which dementia cases could double Walk the rainbow Moshing through heartbreak         TODAY I LEARNED A new type of cancer treatment is changing lives Sebastian Kaulitzki/Science Photo Library—Getty Images I recently spoke to researchers and patients involved in the trial for an exciting new FDA-approved treatment for rectal cancer called dostarlimab. It’s an immunotherapy that uncovers the cloak that some cancer cells—including some of those involved in rectal cancer—rely on to hide from the immune system. The drug shrunk tumors in many patients, helping them to avoid getting chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. That’s a big advance, since many rectal cancer patients require surgery to remove part of the rectum and then need to use colostomy bags for the rest of their lives.  One patient I spoke to was told she wouldn’t be able to have more children when she was diagnosed. But thanks to the drug she took in the trial, her tumor shrunk, and she now has had a girl and a boy.  The drug is for people with a specific type of rectal cancer caused by mutations that interfere with the cells’ ability to repair DNA. For the 5-10% of patients who carry these mutations, the drug can be life-changing. —Alice Park Read the full story here.         SPONSORED BY THE DEEP VIEW Stop Drowning In AI Information Overload Your inbox is flooded with newsletters. Your feed is chaos. Somewhere in that noise are the insights that could transform your work—but who has time to find them? The Deep View solves this. We read everything, analyze what matters, and deliver only the intelligence you need. No duplicate stories, no filler content, no wasted time. Just the essential AI developments that impact your industry, explained clearly and concisely. Replace hours of scattered reading with five focused minutes. While others scramble to keep up, you'll stay ahead of developments that matter. 600,000+ professionals at top companies have already made this switch. Join them today, for free.         BIG NUMBER 11.4 million That’s how many people were estimated to have developed dementia worldwide in 2023, according to a new study in JAMA Neurology. The researchers project that the annual number of new cases could more than double by 2050.  —Veronique Greenwood SOURCE: JAMA NEUROLOGY         SPONSORED BY WISPR FLOW Stop typing what you could say in 10 seconds. Wispr Flow turns your voice into clean, professional text inside any app. Emails, Slack, client updates: speak once, send without editing. 4x faster than typing. Works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android. Try Wispr Flow free         ONE SMALL CHANGE Turn your walk into a color hunt Before your next walk, pick a color—yellow, fuchsia, whatever catches your eye—and see where it turns up. You might spot it on a fire hydrant, mailbox numbers, or even a bucket of cat litter.  Giving your brain one simple thing to hunt for can put your mental chatter on mute and help you notice details you usually pass without a second glance. Take photos if you’d like, or let the discoveries be yours alone. –Angela Haupt Read the full story here.         SPONSORED Is your company shaping the future? TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2027 entries are now open. Every year, TIME asks what it means for a company to be influential. Every year, the answer changes. With expanded recognition opportunities to celebrate influence across industries, impact initiatives, and, for the first time, workplace innovation, there are more ways than ever to stand out. Submit your company.          WHAT WE’RE READING Could a moshpit help heal a broken heart? Leoni Horton at the Guardian describes how hardcore punk became an unexpected form of therapy after a devastating breakup.   Third-party contractors like Deloitte stand to benefit handsomely from state Medicaid work requirements, Sophie Hurwitz reports for Mother Jones. The story of a Phoenix woman’s three-year wait to get a life-saving intestine transplant reveals the complexities and challenges of the organ transplant process, the Associated Press reports.       More Newsletters from Click to sign up. THE BRIEF +FUTURE PROOF +INSIDE TIME +IN THE LOOP +WORTH YOUR TIME + Subscribe to TIME Email us: healthmatters@time.com Received this from a friend? Sign up here Connect with TIME PRIVACY POLICY   © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved. TIME Customer Service, P.O. Box 37508 Boone, IA 50037-0508, United States Unsubscribe