 Health Care | Health Care |
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PRESENTED BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR CANCER RESEARCH |
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House Dems demand Johnson hold ACA vote |
With the government reopened and the end of ObamaCare open enrollment fast approaching, House Democrats are calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to hold a vote on extending the law's enhanced premium tax credits. |
In a letter shared first with The Hill, Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) led a group of 58 Democrats asking Johnson to quickly a hold a vote on ACA tax credits, one of the key conditions that moderate Senate Democrats made in agreeing with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to reopen the government.
Thune promised a vote in the second week of December but did not make any guarantees about it passing.
Johnson did not make any such promise and has given no indication he is willing to follow Thune.
"Families across this country — on both sides of the political spectrum — are counting on us to do something to mitigate rising health care costs. Inaction here will decimate millions of Americans' budgets and force impossible decisions between receiving necessary care and other basic needs," the Democrats wrote.
Without action, ObamaCare's enhanced tax credits that help people afford their premiums will expire at the end of the year, exposing millions of Americans to the full cost of their insurance plans.
Republicans spent weeks during the government shutdown refusing to negotiate with Democrats on health care and now are scrambling to coalesce around ideas to replace the subsidies, despite the political danger of letting them expire.
The ideas are vague, and many health experts warn some of the proposals being floated could create a "death spiral" in the marketplace. In the meantime, Democrats say there isn't time for any serious health reform discussions. A simple, "clean" extension of the subsidies is the best path forward, they argue.
"For the past 50-plus days, you had kept the House of Representatives out of session while millions of Americans worry over how they'll be able to pay their health care bills in 2026. Up to 24 million ACA enrollees are facing gross premium increases averaging 26 percent and actual monthly cost increases around 114 percent; some constituents have shared with us anticipated premium increases as high as 3,000 percent," the Democrats wrote. |
Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. |
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How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: |
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Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams says there is still a lot of "misinformation circulating" around vaccines in the U.S., despite data indicating that most Americans follow their doctor's recommendations. A January 2025 poll by the non-profit The Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease found that nearly 90 percent of Americans with children under 18 "always or sometimes vaccinate their children based on doctor recommendations." … |
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Former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that "abortion bans have killed another woman in Texas" in response to a ProPublica report published Wednesday. Clinton's comments came in a Wednesday post on the social platform X, which included a link to ProPublica’s story. According to the outlet, a 37-year-old woman named Tierra Walker had been dealing with health issues during her pregnancy. … |
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The House Ways and Means Committee is demanding an answer from a New Jersey organ donation group accused of engaging in illegal practices, including harvesting organs from a person who was showing signs of life. In a letter to the New Jersey Organ and Tissue Sharing Network (NJTO), Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and oversight subcommittee Chair David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) laid out numerous whistleblower allegations … |
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A MESSAGE FROM AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR CANCER RESEARCH |
Sustained and Robust Federal Funding Saves Lives |
AACR Cancer Progress Report 2025 shows federal funding helped prevent 4.75M deaths from major cancers. Cancer Research Saves Lives®. Read the report. |
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill: |
Canada loses measles elimination status after ongoing outbreaks |
Canada is no longer measles-free because of ongoing outbreaks, international health experts said Monday, as childhood vaccination rates fall and the highly contagious virus spreads across North and South America. The loss of the country's measles elimination status comes more than a year after the highly contagious virus started spreading. … |
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Local and state headlines on health care: |
- Wisconsin Senate passes bill to block state health funds for undocumented immigrants (Wisconsin Public Radio)
- Six organizations sued over medical records access in Maine (News Center Maine)
- Lexington erases $12.6M in medical debt for more than 6,000 residents (LEX18)
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Health news we've flagged from other outlets: |
- A small Texas think tank cultivated COVID dissidents. Now they're running US health policy. (KFF Health News)
- Covid skeptics are starting to win in court. Vaccine access could shrink as a result (Stat)
- Flu season could be nasty this winter (NPR)
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Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill: |
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You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
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