Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hospital-At-Home Funding Extended Five Years Under House-Passed Bill
The House of Representatives took the first step toward extending Medicare鈥檚 authority to fund acute hospital-at-home services, passing a bill late Monday that would allow such services for five more years. The Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act of 2025 passed overwhelmingly on what鈥檚 known as the suspension calendar, which the House uses to handle popular, non-controversial measures. (McAuliff, 12/2)
The latest on ACA subsidies 鈥
Chances are increasing that Obamacare subsidies will expire at the end of the month and trigger a spike in health insurance premiums as a deadlock in Congress deepens on the issue. More than 20 million Americans insured through Obamacare face a premium spike that on average will more than double their costs beginning Jan. 1. Leading insurance companies are at risk of hits to their bottom lines as customers opt to go without coverage rather than cover the additional cost. (Wasson, Reilly and Dennis, 12/2)
Republican lawmakers are looking to craft their own health care policy overhauls by the end of next week, when Senate Democrats get a vote on expiring Obamacare subsidies. So far they don鈥檛 agree on what their competing plan should look like. In separate closed-door meetings Tuesday, House and Senate Republicans debated what they could put forth as they face the reality that health insurance premiums will skyrocket if enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits lapse after Dec. 31. (Carney and Lee Hill, 12/2)
President Trump on Tuesday downplayed the cost-of-living pains being felt by Americans, declaring that affordability 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 mean anything to anybody鈥 as his political edge on the economy continues to dissipate. (Green, 12/2)
Also 鈥
More than 200 rowers, swimmers and other water athletes 鈥 including members of Team USA and Olympic competitors 鈥 are calling on Congress to increase funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to $10 billion annually. (Rumpler, 12/2)
Ninety former House members signed a letter calling on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to pass legislation prohibiting members of Congress and their families from owning or trading individual stocks. In a letter, published Tuesday, the former elected officials urged the top Republican and Democrat in the House to hold a floor vote on the Restore Trust in Congress Act, saying they 鈥渟trongly recommend attaching this legislation to a 鈥榤ust pass鈥 package before the conclusion of the year.鈥 The former lawmakers also cited a recent Wall Street Journal analysis showing a surge in stock trading by federal lawmakers and their families in early April, right before the market tanked alongside President Trump鈥檚 sweeping tariff rollout. (Fortinsky, 12/2)
Members of the House of Representatives are quitting Congress at a record rate, with Republican retirements and resignations outpacing Democrats by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio in the first 11 months of the year. The record number of exits also guarantees that the next Congress will look considerably different than the current one, forcing leaders of both parties to contend with fresh faces and new challenges. (Santaliz and Nichols, 12/1)