Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Congress Reaches Year-End Spending, Tax Deals
House Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled a massive tax and spending package Tuesday night, arguing that the GOP didn't win every fight, but they kept many of their policy preferences in place for the next 10 months. In a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans, Ryan touted a pause in Obamacare's "Cadillac tax," the lifting of a longstanding oil-export ban and preservation of several other policy preferences in the year-end deal. It will get a vote later this week. (Sherman, Bresnahan and French, 12/15)
The sweeping agreement that came after weeks of bipartisan negotiations is the broadest tax and spending deal since the January 2013 鈥渇iscal cliff鈥 agreement, and both parties will be able to claim policy victories while bemoaning what also made it in or was left out. (Snell and DeBonis, 12/15)
The $1.15 trillion spending bill to fund fiscal year 2016 was completed and released around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, following weeks of negotiations on Capitol Hill. Late Tuesday night, lawmakers also reached a deal on legislation that would revive and extend dozens of lapsed and expiring tax breaks. (Peterson and Rubin, 12/16)
U.S. lawmakers unveiled a tax-cut package late Tuesday night that would revive dozens of expired breaks and lock many of them into law permanently. ... The so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health insurance would start in 2020 instead of 2018, providing a win for labor unions and large companies that have been fighting it. That measure is attached to the spending bill. A tax on health insurance may also get suspended. (Rubin, 12/16)
The White House knew it was in trouble on the afternoon of Dec. 3, when the Senate overwhelmingly voted to repeal the so-called Cadillac tax in a symbolic, bipartisan vote. Ninety out of 100 senators, including scores of Democrats, backed scrapping the Cadillac tax, a key pillar of the Affordable Care Act. Beginning in 2018, the excise tax on high cost health plans was supposed to raise money to help pay for covering people under Obamacare. It was also designed to tamp down health spending in the future. (Cook, 12/15)
