Â鶹ŮÓÅ

More than 17,000 disabled veterans living outside the United States could get all of their medical costs covered under a proposal unveiled in Congress this week. The plan has little chance of being passed into law this year, but could be the basis for major reforms in overseas veterans health care next session. It would mean hundreds to thousands of dollars in financial relief to struggling veterans, all of whom have received a 100% disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Shane III, 12/17)

Congress reached a government funding deal Tuesday, with a significant healthcare package that includes an extension of Medicare telehealth policies, boosts for doctors' pay, and a raft of new restrictions on drug market middlemen. Lawmakers rushed to finalize text of what's known as a continuing resolution so they could pass government funding before it runs out on Friday night. The bill would last until March 14 for general funding, though the healthcare provisions last longer. (McAuliff, 12/17)

Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) will lead Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee in the next Congress after winning a caucus vote Tuesday. Craig, 52, beat out Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), 72, for the role by a vote of 121 to 91, according to five Democrats in the room, granted anonymity to share the private vote tally. She will become the first woman ranking member of the House Agriculture panel and is part of a larger generational shift among House Democrats, who have forced out a number of aging committee leaders in the wake of their November election losses. ... Craig’s fellow Minnesotan Sen. Amy Klobuchar is already set to take over as the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee next year. (Hill, Wu and Diaz, 12/17)

Artificial intelligence can reduce the health care sector’s administrative burden while improving clinical diagnostics and speeding up drug discovery, according to a congressional task force that offered recommendations for lawmakers to consider in the next session. (Trang, 12/17)

Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News: How A Duty To Spend Wisely On Worker Benefits Could Loosen PBMs’ Grip On Drug Prices

Ann Lewandowski knows all about pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, the companies that shape the U.S. drug market. Her job, as a policy advocate at drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, was to tell patient and physician groups about the PBMs’ role in high drug prices. Armed with that knowledge, Lewandowski filed a potentially groundbreaking lawsuit in February. Rather than targeting the PBMs, however, she went after a big company that uses one — her own employer, Johnson & Johnson. (Allen, 12/18)

After years of dire warnings about Americans' diet, the political winds appear to be shifting to a more critical view of what we eat. The concerns were evident at a Senate health committee hearing this month as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle dug into the connection between ultra-processed foods and obesity and chronic illness. (Reed, 12/18)