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Health Care
Health Care
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PRESENTED BY COALITION TO STRENGTHEN AMERICA’S HEALTHCARE
The Big Story
Anxieties creep up as stalemate over ACA tax credits continues
With open enrollment now only two weeks away, and the federal government still on shutdown, health care stakeholders are growing anxious about the future of the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits.
© Greg Nash
AHIP, the trade group representing U.S. health insurers, said this week it’s still not too late to renew the credits.
“There are challenges associated with implementing a late extension of the health care tax credits, but these challenges are not insurmountable – particularly if there is continuity in policy for 2026,” AHIP President Mike Tuffin said in a statement.
“There is still time to protect 24 million Americans from the largest spike in health care costs in history and there is still time to ensure consumers see immediate relief in 2026,” added Tuffin. “If the tax credits are extended, health insurers will work quickly with regulators and do everything they can to help consumers understand their updated coverage choices for 2026.”
For some in Idaho, where open enrollment began this Wednesday, the reality of the expiring tax credits is already here.
As NBC News reported this week, families in the Gem State have received notices that their monthly premiums could more than triple in the absence of the subsidies.
And recent projections show that the impact would go farther than just rising uninsurance rates. A report by researchers at George Washington University and the Commonwealth Fund found that almost 340,000 jobs could be lost if the tax credits are allowed to expire.
“Approximately 339,100 jobs are projected to be lost in 2026, as loss of income forces health care providers and other businesses to reduce their workforces. Slightly less than half of these jobs (154,000) will be health care–related, while the rest (185,000) will be in other sectors of the economy,” the report found.
Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, I’m Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.
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Essential Reads
How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:
Trump moves to lower IVF costs with insurance guidance, drug agreement
President Trump announced a pair of efforts Thursday aimed at expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) as he seeks to deliver on a major campaign promise. Trump in the Oval Office announced that his administration was issuing guidance that would allow employers to offer IVF coverage as a benefit as part of company insurance plans. He also announced an agreement intended to lower the cost of a popular fertility …
FDA unveils drugs to receive expedited review in support of ‘national priorities’
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced the first round of experimental drugs that will receive drastically expedited reviews at the agency, part of an effort to prioritize medicines the Trump administration deems as “supporting U.S. national interests.” The nine medicines announced by the FDA include potential treatments for vaping addiction, deafness, pancreatic cancer and other conditions. …
Thune says he would not take advice from RFK Jr. ‘if I were a woman’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said if he was a woman he wouldn’t take medical advice from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., citing recent claims the secretary made that President Trump endorsed.
MSNOW’s senior Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali asked Thune in a Thursday interview whether the GOP was becoming a “party of no dissent,” noting that lawmakers like Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.) and Susan Collins (Maine) — who are up for reelection — are among the few who have publicly disagreed with party leadership and the White House on some issues.
A MESSAGE FROM COALITION TO STRENGTHEN AMERICA’S HEALTHCARE
Care that doesn’t clock out – on rounds or on call.
Tell Congress: Protect Access to 24/7 Care —because when the doors close, it is too late. Learn more.
In Other News
Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
USDA warns that Hello Fresh subscription meals may contain listeria-tainted spinach
Federal health officials late Monday warned people not to eat certain Hello Fresh subscription meals containing spinach that may be contaminated with listeria. The U.S. Agriculture Department issued a public health alert for the meals, which were produced by FreshRealm, the San Clemente, California-based company linked to an expanding …
Around the Nation
Local and state headlines on health care:
Blue Cross RI retirees and spouses to lose health coverage in cost-cutting move (Rhode Island Current)
Delaware Senate confirms new health secretary Young (Spotlight Delaware)
What We’re Reading
Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
States jostle over $50B rural health fund as Trump’s Medicaid cuts trigger scramble (KFF Health News)
Some of CDC’s health statistics employees are still in the dark (Stat)
What People Think
Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill:
You’re all caught up. See you Monday!
