Where the money is - Part 3

From the Daily Bruin: A UCLA-affiliated research institute plans to revolutionize the liver transplant process by using up to a $19.8 million grant to create functional organs from cells. The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation will work with researchers from UCLA, Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University and other institutions on a project called “Prometheus,” which received the grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, a federal research agency.

Prometheus – led by Dr. Xiling Shen, the Institute’s acting director – aims to solve a critical shortage of donor organs, according to an Oct. 2 press release. Among adults added to the U.S. liver transplant waiting list in 2023, 61.9% received a liver within one year, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients’. “The end goal is to be able to bioprint a functional liver and what I call the universal functional liver, which will be accepted or not rejected by anyone,” said Dr. Vadim Jucaud, an assistant professor at the Terasaki Institute...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/10/18/ucla-affiliated-institute-seeks-to-develop-synthetic-livers-with-19-8m-grant.

Straws in the Wind - Part 506

From the Yale Daily News: Yale College is drawing from its reserves for the first time in four years, even with more income from tuition and the University endowment than last year, as it attempts to pay $26 million in endowment tax costs this fiscal year without additional budget cuts.

Yale’s budget book for fiscal year 2027, which was released last month, includes a new line that denotes how much each school contributes to the broader University’s endowment tax, which increased by more than five times starting in July. That cost, which depends on how much of the school’s budget draws from endowment investment returns, was set at $26 million for the College...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/college-drawing-from-reserves-to-offset-endowment-tax-without-more-cuts.

Recommended

I don't know how effective this will turn out to be but it is worthwhile trying:

https://privacy.ca.gov/ 

Side by Wide (Medicare-Eligible – One or More Family Members Not Medicare-Eligible)

Note: Click on tables to clarify. 

Bigger increases occur when there are adults not in Medicare as part of the family. What causes the variation is unexplained. And we don't know the number or proportion in each box.

Data for 2026 premiums from:

https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/retirees/retiree-benefits/retiree-health/medical-plans-for-retirees/retiree-medical-plan-costs/#all-medicare.

Data for 2027 premiums from:

https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/oe/retiree-start/medical/retiree-medical-plan-costs/#split-family. 

Side by Side (Emeriti/Retirees - All in Medicare)

Note: Click on tables to clarify. They are not quite side-by-side. You would have to print them out because of the way they are presented on UCnet.

As with the non-Medicare emeriti and retirees, the increases vary and some are zero. (Federal Medicare premiums may be rising, however.)

Data for 2026 premiums from:

https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/retirees/retiree-benefits/retiree-health/medical-plans-for-retirees/retiree-medical-plan-costs/#all-medicare.

Data for 2027 premiums from:

https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/oe/retiree-start/medical/retiree-medical-plan-costs/#split-family.

Side by Side (Non-Medicare Emeriti/Retirees)

NOTE: Click on the tables above to clarify.

The picture for non-Medicare retirees and emeriti is more mixed than for actives when it comes to UC health insurance. Some categories are actually showing premium decreases or freezes. Most non-Medicare covered retirees and emeriti are presumably those who retired early before the Medicare eligibility age of 65. Some may not have become eligible for Medicare by working in non-covered employment situations.

Data for 2026 premiums from:

https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/retirees/retiree-benefits/retiree-health/medical-plans-for-retirees/retiree-medical-plan-costs/#all-medicare.

Data for 2027 premiums from:

https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/oe/retiree-start/medical/retiree-medical-plan-costs/#split-family.

Side by Side (Active Employees)

NOTE: Click on the table above to make them clearer.

The new health insurance premiums for 2027 are now published. General price inflation is running in the 3-4% range, but these premiums are increasing way more than that. 

UC premiums for active employees are set according to four salary ranges. If you were in the top salary tier (Tier 4 above) and bought the most expensive plan for a family (UC Care), your premium would rise 9.5%. If you were in the lowest salary tier (Tier 1) above and bought the cheapest plan for singles (HealthSavings+), your premium would rise by 29.3%. Enough said.

The 2026 rates are from:

https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/benefits/health-welfare/medical/employee-medical-plan-costs/#payband-1.

The 2027 rates are from:

https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/oe/emp-start/medical/employee-medical-plan-costs/#payband-1.