Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Top Three...

Reuters: Obamacare Health Subsidy To End As US Senate Rejects Dueling Remedies The U.S. Senate on Thursday rejected competing proposals by Republicans and Democrats to address a looming healthcare crisis, leaving some 24 million Americans vulnerable to significantly higher insurance premiums beginning on January 1 when a federal subsidy expires. Barring any late breakthroughs, Congress will begin an end-of-year holiday recess sometime next week and not return until January 5, after new premiums are locked in for those who had relied on the Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidy. (McCaskill and Cowan, 12/12)

HealthCare Dive: Democrats’ ACA subsidy extension adds $83B to deficit, boosts insured: CBO Senate Democrats’ plan to extend more generous financial assistance for Affordable Care Act plans would increase the federal deficit by nearly $83 billion over a decade, but millions more would remain insured, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office released Wednesday. Keeping the enhanced subsidies in place through 2028 would increase the number of people with health insurance by 400,000 next year, 3 million in 2027, 4 million in 2028 and 1.1 million in 2029 compared to if the assistance is allowed to expire, according to the nonpartisan budget scorekeeper. (Olsen, 12/11)

AP: Affordable Care Act Enrollment Is Slightly Ahead Of Last Year So Far The number of Americans signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance for 2026 is moderately higher than it was at a similar time last year, initial new federal data shows, even as subsidies set to expire at the end of 2025 will make the coverage more expensive for many. Seen at face value, the data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services seems to defy predictions that many Americans facing pricier plans would drop out of marketplace coverage altogether next year. But experts caution that the numbers are an incomplete snapshot of total enrollment, which could still show a decline by the end of the open enrollment period. (Swenson and Forster, 12/8)

For a Deeper Dive...

KFF Health News: Sticker Shock: Obamacare Customers Confront Premium Spikes As Congress Dithers We’ve been here before: congressional Democrats and Republicans sparring over the future of the Affordable Care Act. But this time there’s an extra complication. Though it’s the middle of open enrollment, lawmakers are still debating whether to extend the subsidies that have given consumers extra help paying their health insurance premiums in recent years. (Appleby, 12/12)

Politico: Trump Asks RFK Jr. To ‘Fast Track’ Vaccine Schedule Review President Donald Trump is all in on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plan to scrutinize the list of vaccines American children get. Trump directed Kennedy on Friday to review the childhood vaccine schedule and potentially revise it to align with those of other developed countries, most of which recommend fewer shots. (Gardner, 12/5)

The New York Times: FDA Expands Covid Vaccine Inquiry To Adult Deaths The Food and Drug Administration has expanded its investigation of deaths possibly linked to the Covid vaccine to include adults as well as children, according to a Trump administration official. (Jewett, 12/9)

Axios: Trump Administration Bans SNAP Junk Food Purchases In 6 More States Six more states agreed Wednesday to ban the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for junk food under new deals with the Trump administration. The move expands the Trump administration's use of the federal safety net to expand its Make America Healthy Again agenda. More SNAP recipients will be restricted from buying certain sugary drinks and food. (Rubin, 12/10)

Axios: Big Insurers Provide Incomplete Transparency Data: Study Three of the nation's biggest health insurers have provided an incomplete picture of their negotiated prices in transparency data that's required by federal rules, according to a new analysis. The partial disclosures by UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Cigna could leave employers in the dark when shopping for workplace coverage, per the analysis in the American Journal of Managed Care. (Goldman, 12/11)

CIDRAP: Doctor Groups Form United Front Against RFK Jr’s Efforts To Limit Vaccine Access Children will die if proposed changes to federal vaccine policy take effect, doctors warned today during a joint press conference with representatives from six leading health organizations. Experts were responding to a vote by members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—all handpicked by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—to limit the use of hepatitis B vaccines in newborns, in spite of evidence that the shots prevent cancer and save lives. (Szabo, 12/9)

The New York Times: House Democrat Seeks To Impeach RFK Jr. For Undercutting Public Health Representative Haley Stevens of Michigan, a Democrat running for Senate, filed articles of impeachment on Wednesday against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., making an all but certainly futile bid to charge him with undermining public health, diminishing decades of scientific and medical progress and imperiling the health of the American people. In accusing Mr. Kennedy of an assault on the public health system that constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors, Ms. Stevens said the secretary had delayed biomedical innovation through the “far-reaching” and “haphazard” termination of working scientists. She cited Mr. Kennedy’s cancellation of $8.9 billion in federal research grants, and said he was “chilling medical innovation, including lifesaving clinical research” in what amounted to a violation of his oath of office. (Karni, 12/10)

AP: Swing District Republicans Brace For Fallout Over Health Care Republicans in key battleground U.S. House districts are working to contain the political fallout that may come when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the Republican majority, the impending expiration of what are called enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 is a pressing concern as they potentially face headwinds in a 2026 midterm election that will be critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. (Levy and Freking, 12/8)

KFF Health News: Out-Of-Pocket Pain From High-Deductible Plans Means Skimping On Care David Garza sometimes feels as if he doesn’t have health insurance now that he pays so much to treat his Type 2 diabetes. His monthly premium payment of $435 for family coverage is roughly the same as the insurance at his previous job. But the policy at his current job carries an annual deductible of $4,000, which he must pay out-of-pocket for his family’s care until he reaches that amount each year. “Now everything is full price,” said the 53-year-old, who works at a warehouse just south of Dallas-Fort Worth. “That’s been a little bit of a struggle.” (Huff, 12/9)

Politico: ‘Sort Of Blackmail’: Billions In Rural Health Funding Hinge On States Passing Trump-Backed Policies The Trump administration offered states a deal: pledge to enact White House-favored policies for a chance to win a bigger share of the $50 billion aimed at transforming the nation’s struggling rural health care systems. The battle for those funds is now underway. (Ollstein, Reader and Crampton, 12/7)

You Might Also Enjoy...

JAMA: Rhetoric vs Reality on Immigrants’ Health Care Spending. BD Sommers, PMG Santos

For the Visual Among Us...

A few years ago I started a weekly e-mail for friends and colleagues who want to keep up on major federal health policy developments but did not have time to plod through all the minutiae--they were busy doing important things like running organizations and taking care of patients! Much to my surprise, it became pretty popular. I have now converted to a weekly newsletter format so you can manage your own subscription preferences and forward to others that might be interested.

These summaries represent my judgement on health policy issues that may not on the front pages, but are relevant to clinicians, administrators, and educators. I monitor many news sources and clipping services to identify content for this newsletter and I try hard to be as factual, balanced, and non-partisan as possible. While the articles are written by others (with credit attributed), the choice of what to include is entirely mine. If you are interested in receiving a daily summary of health policy news, you might consider signing up for the KHN Morning Briefing. If you enjoy podcasts, I suggest What the Health? and Tradeoffs.

-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD