• Maryland: Medicare's and Social Security's insolvency dates have been pushed back due to improvements in the economy, according to a new Social Security and Medicare trustees report. In the new report, Medicare's insolvency date was pushed back five years to 2036, which was due in part to higher payroll tax income and lower-than-projected expenses last year. However, once Medicare's reserves are depleted, it will only be able to cover 89% of patients' hospital and other healthcare costs. Meanwhile, Social Security is projected to run out of funds beginning in 2035, one year later than previous estimates. Once Social Security runs out of funds, it will only be able to pay 83% of benefits. According to Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O'Malley, the report's findings are "a measure of good news," but "Congress still needs to act in order to avoid what is now forecast to be, in absence of their action, a 17% cut to people's Social Security benefits." (Hussein/Murphy, Associated Press, 5/6)
• Missouri: Panera Bread is dropping its Charged Lemonade drinks after consumers claimed that high levels of caffeine in the drinks led to health issues. Currently, Panera is facing three lawsuits over the heavily caffeinated drinks, which led to death in two customers and irreversible health complications in another. On the company's website, a large 30-ounce Charged Lemonade is listed as having up to 236 milligrams of caffeine, but it was previously listed as having up to 390 milligrams of caffeine. According to FDA, healthy individuals can safely consume 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, which is equal to roughly four to five cups of coffee. Allison Childress, a registered clinical dietitian and associate professor of nutrition sciences at Texas Tech University, said that people may begin to see problems when they "stack" their caffeine intake throughout the day, with coffee, soda, energy drinks, and more. Once a person hits around 1,200 milligrams of caffeine, they could experience heart palpitations, anxiety, agitation, high blood pressure, or seizures. According to Bloomberg, Panera plans to replace the Charged Lemonades with a new line of drinks that include low-sugar and low-caffeine options. (Tyko, Axios, 5/7; Sirtori, Bloomberg, 5/7)
• Rhode Island: CVS Health last week acquired Hella Health, a Medicare Advantage brokerage for an undisclosed sum. According to Modern Healthcare, Hella Health debuted in 2020 and claims to offer over 3,000 Medicare plans from different insurers, including CVS' subsidiary Aetna and Humana. "Adding Hella Health to CVS Health's family of companies furthers CVS Health's commitment to enhancing digital capabilities — particularly for seniors," said Hella Health founder and CEO Rafal Walkiewicz. "Through this combination, CVS Health will expand its multi-payor technology platform to include a wide range of insurance offerings, supported by trusted advisors and agents, to provide a simple, direct-to-consumer Medicare shopping and enrollment experience." (Tepper, Modern Healthcare, 4/30)

As the baby boomer generation ages into retirement, the ratio of workers per retirees in the United States is getting lower, threatening programs like Social Security and Medicare and increasing demand for long-term care, Alyssa Fowers and Kevin Schaul report for the Washington Post.