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The U.S. Senate on Thursday rejected competing proposals by Republicans and Democrats to address a looming healthcare crisis, leaving some 24 million Americans vulnerable to significantly higher insurance premiums beginning on January 1 when a federal subsidy expires. Barring any late breakthroughs, Congress will begin an end-of-year holiday recess sometime next week and not return until January 5, after new premiums are locked in for those who had relied on the Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidy. (McCaskill and Cowan, 12/12)

Four Republican senators, including two vulnerable incumbents who are up for reelection next year, broke ranks Thursday and voted for a three-year extension of enhanced health insurance premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) all voted for the Democratic proposal, which was introduced by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.). (Bolton, 12/11)

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also estimates that, with ACA expirations, about 4 million more people would become uninsured than would otherwise be the case. This increased uninsured rate could have various consequences, including higher Medicare costs and strains on hospitals nationwide. (Schneid, 12/11)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Sticker Shock: Obamacare Customers Confront Premium Spikes As Congress Dithers
We’ve been here before: congressional Democrats and Republicans sparring over the future of the Affordable Care Act. But this time there’s an extra complication. Though it’s the middle of open enrollment, lawmakers are still debating whether to extend the subsidies that have given consumers extra help paying their health insurance premiums in recent years. (Appleby, 12/12)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: Crunch Time For ACA Tax Credits
Congress is running out of time to avert a huge increase in health care premium payments for millions of Americans who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Dec. 15 is the deadline to sign up for coverage that begins Jan. 1, and some consumers are waiting to see whether the credits will be extended, enabling them to afford coverage next year. (Rovner, 12/11)

The US Food and Drug Administration intends to put a “black box” warning on Covid-19 vaccines, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans. (Tinker, Goodman and Tirrell, 12/12)

Covid vaccines administered last fall sharply decreased the risk of emergency department and urgent care visits in children, according to new data released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the agency’s premier publication provided a striking counterpoint to the Trump administration’s recent rhetoric about the vaccines. (Mandavilli, 12/11)

On hepatitis B vaccines —

The wife of the newly appointed chair of the vaccine advisory panel that recently voted to roll back infant hepatitis B vaccination guidelines said Thursday that he had been fired from his pediatric cardiology practice because of his position on the committee. Kimberly Milhoan, the wife of the recently appointed chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kirk Milhoan, wrote on her Substack post titled “Irony” that she and her husband were in Hong Kong this week for the World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery. (Choi, 12/11)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Vaccine Panel’s Hepatitis B Vote Signals Further Turbulence For Immunization Policy, Public Trust
When Su Wang was in medical school, she donated blood. That’s when she learned she was infected with hepatitis B, a virus that attacks the liver and can lead to cancer and death decades later. “I was 18, healthy, in college,” she said. “And suddenly I had a chronic illness I didn’t even know about.” (Gounder, 12/12)

More vaccine news —

Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosted its first Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) call since September, focusing on seasonal influenza activity and vaccination, especially the importance of vaccinating children. “The time to get vaccinated is right now for those 6 months and older. [Flu] rates are increasing,” said Tim Uyeki, MD, MPH, MPP, the chief medical officer of the Influenza Division at CDC. (Soucheray, 12/11)

A new analysis released today by the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) suggests that, based on the available evidence, there is no causal association between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), reaffirming decades of evidence supporting the safety of childhood immunizations. ... The committee examined two claims: that thiomersal-containing vaccines are associated with an increased risk of ASD and that vaccines in general contribute to autism diagnoses. (Bergeson, 12/11)

For years, Sen. Ron Johnson has been spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19 and the safety of vaccines. He’s promoted disproven treatments for COVID-19 and claimed, without evidence, that athletes are “dropping dead on the field” after getting the COVID-19 vaccination. Now the Wisconsin politician is endorsing a book by a discredited doctor promoting an unproven and dangerous treatment for autism and a host of ailments: chlorine dioxide, a chemical used for disinfecting and bleaching. (O'Matz, 12/11)

Liam Neeson has lent his voice to a new documentary that questions the legitimacy of vaccines and praises Donald Trump’s health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr. The film, called Plague of Corruption, is narrated by the Taken actor and based on a bestselling book co-authored by Judy Mikovits, a disgraced former scientist who gained notoriety during the Covid pandemic. She claimed Covid was caused by a bad strain of the flu vaccine and urged people not to get vaccinated. (Lee, 12/11)

President Donald Trump is expected to push the government to dramatically loosen federal restrictions on marijuana, reducing oversight of the plant and its derivatives to the same level as some common prescription painkillers and other drugs, according to six people familiar with the discussions. Trump discussed the plan with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) in a Wednesday phone call from the Oval Office, said four of the people, who, like the others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The president is expected to seek to ease access to the drug through an upcoming executive order that directs federal agencies to pursue reclassification, the people said. (Bogage, Diamond and Ovalle, 12/11)

To treat their pain, anxiety and sleep problems, millions of Americans turn to cannabis, which is now legal in 40 states for medical use. But a new review of 15 years of research concludes that the evidence of its benefits is often weak or inconclusive, and that nearly 30 percent of medical cannabis patients meet criteria for cannabis use disorder. “The evidence does not support the use of cannabis or cannabinoids at this point for most of the indications that folks are using it for,” said Dr. Michael Hsu, an addiction psychiatrist and clinical instructor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the lead author of the review, which was published last month in the medical journal JAMA. (Cannabis refers to the entire plant; cannabinoids are its many compounds.) (Hoffman, 12/12)

More pharmaceutical developments —

The company that makes one of the two most widely used brands of formula for premature babies is threatening to stop. That is, unless US health officials and Congress help protect it from lawsuits related to infant deaths allegedly tied to its product. It’s a warning that holds particular power over policy makers and legislators who’ve become acutely aware of the fragility of a baby formula market that’s been mired in recent scandals. The biggest players in the market have struggled with shortages in recent years, and a popular upstart is under scrutiny for a botulism outbreak. (Edney, 12/11)

A single-dose oral antibiotic from a new class of drugs was as effective as the previous standard of care at treating uncomplicated urogenital gonorrhea, a study published Thursday in The Lancet reported. If approved for use, zoliflodacin would be a welcome addition to an armamentarium that contains precious few tools to treat Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the wily bacterium that causes the infection. (Branswell, 12/11)

People with obesity and arthritis taking an experimental obesity drug made by Eli Lilly lost more weight than with any drug now on the market, and they reported relief from their arthritis symptoms, the company announced on Thursday. The drug, retatrutide, is a next-generation obesity and diabetes medication from Eli Lilly, which already sells Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss. These drugs catapulted Lilly in November into becoming the first medical company to hit a trillion-dollar valuation. (Kolata, 12/11)

When Chase Johnson was 31, her dog began acting strange. He was anxious, wouldn’t leave her side and, one day, pushed his nose into the side of her breast. Johnson felt a hard lump. “I wasn’t someone who was good at doing self-exams, I don’t think I would have found it otherwise,” Johnson, now 36, of Cary, North Carolina, said. “I had no family history of breast cancer.” Johnson was diagnosed in February 2021 with triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive type of the disease that tends to grow quickly and spread to other parts of the body. (Sullivan, 12/11)

A large retrospective cohort analysis of real-world electronic health record data suggests that baloxavir (Xofluza) may reduce hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits more effectively than oseltamivir (Tamiflu) in patients treated for influenza. The study, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, compared outcomes among more than 75,000 US patients, offering new insights on the effectiveness of these two antiviral drugs. (Bergeson, 12/11)

The Education Department announced Thursday it is handing out $208 million in grants to the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration and School-Based Mental Health programs. The announcement comes after the department canceled more than 200 grants for mental health funding in schools from the Biden administration era. (Lonas Cochran, 12/11)

Art Kleinschmidt, the official serving as the de facto head of the federal agency overseeing mental health and addiction treatment, is leaving his post on Friday, according to an email reviewed by STAT. (Facher, 12/11)

More health news from the Trump administration —

A new proposal from the US Food and Drug administration would allow sunscreens in the United States to include an active ingredient already commonly used in Europe, Australia and parts of Asia. (McPhillips, 12/11)

In 2008, Tracy Beth Høeg, then a resident physician and ultramarathon runner, expressed dismay at vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s denial of climate change. “To stare such abundant scientific evidence in the face and make the blanket statement that you don’t believe it,” Høeg wrote on her blog. “What will the future of the planet be in the hands of someone who bases their decisions on belief rather than scientific evidence?” Seventeen years later, as the top drug regulator in the United States, Høeg faces accusations from staff at the Food and Drug Administration of doing the very same thing. (Lawrence, 12/11)

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday evening that seeks to challenge state laws on artificial intelligence and withhold certain grant funds for states with AI laws the administration dislikes. The effort could be a significant victory for major technology companies but is almost certain to be challenged in court. (Mollenkamp, 12/11)

On global health funding —

A new US health deal with Kenya was temporarily frozen by a court in the East African nation after a lobby group raised data-privacy concerns, even as President Donald Trump approaches more African countries with similar pacts. The High Court restrained Kenya’s government from sharing any medical, epidemiological or sensitive personal health data, stopping the authorities from implementing the $1.6 billion health cooperation framework signed last week. (Herbling, 12/11)

To this day, Bill Gates remains a relatively mild-mannered, non-political guy. But he’s also not going to ignore reality. For the first time in 25 years, the number of child deaths is on track to rise from the previous year, to the tune of an additional 200,000 deaths, according to the Gates Foundation. And it’s not a coincidence, he says, that it’s coming after the Trump administration and other wealthy countries slashed foreign aid at the beginning of the year. (Burns, 12/12)

Three of the nation's biggest health insurers have provided an incomplete picture of their negotiated prices in transparency data that's required by federal rules, according to a new analysis. The partial disclosures by UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Cigna could leave employers in the dark when shopping for workplace coverage, per the analysis in the American Journal of Managed Care. (Goldman, 12/11)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will devote about $100 million to support chronic disease initiatives for fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries, the agency announced Thursday. The Make America Healthy Again: Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence, or MAHA ELEVATE. MAHA ELEVATE is the latest in a slew of new payment models from CMS, joining others focused on digital health, chronic conditions and prior authorizations. (Early, 12/11)

The Connecticut Office of Health Strategy on Wednesday evening approved an $86.1 million deal for Hartford HealthCare to purchase Manchester Memorial and Rockville General, two struggling hospitals owned by bankrupt hospital operator, Prospect Medical Holdings. (Golvala, 12/11)

Highmark Health has proposed an affiliation with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City that would give it a foothold outside the East Coast for the first time. Operationally, the proposed deal resembles an acquisition, except that no cash will change hands. Together, the nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers would cover 8.1 million commercial, Medicaid and Medicare members across six states. (Tepper, 12/11)

This week, UnityPoint nurses in Des Moines voted on whether to form a union, but the results are still undetermined after hundreds of ballots were challenged for their validity. Following the vote on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, 871 UnityPoint nurses voted for the union, while 666 voted against it. However, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is leading the unionization effort, said they are challenging the validity of another 251 ballots. This means the results of the election will be undetermined until the National Labor Relations Board can review the challenged ballots to see if they should be counted. (Krebs, 12/11)

Adventist Health Specialty Bakersfield earned an “A” in The Leapfrog Group’s Hospital Safety Grade report in the fall of 2023, several months after the system bought the California facility. ... Identifying and correcting the issues that caused the slumping performance demonstrates the challenges executives face at a time of industry consolidation and what can fall by the wayside as a new facility is brought into the fold. (DeSilva, 12/11)

Also —

Over the last two decades, the suicide rate in America has increased by 30%. During that time, suicide prevention measures like gun safety bills have failed to gain political traction at a national level, and cuts to Medicaid funding have threatened access to mental health care. But in recent years, an approach known as “Zero Suicide,” which focuses on using the health care system as a first line of defense, has gained financial and empirical support. (Rockeman, 12/12)

If you need help —

Oregon has seen a record-high number of cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, this year, prompting concern about the risks posed to vulnerable populations. On December 10, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) recorded 1,475 reported annual cases of whooping cough, breaking the state's record of 1,420 that was set in 1950. (Laws, 12/11)

Health news from California —

Santa Clara County has certified a voter-approved increase in sales tax to help fund local hospitals — one of the first counties to adopt such an approach to offset major cuts in federal health care spending. The county Registrar of Voters certified Measure A, which passed with 57% of the vote in the Nov. 4 election and will raise local sales tax by five-eights of a cent (0.625%) for five years. The Board of Supervisors approved the results of the election on Tuesday. (Ho, 12/11)

The San Francisco Fire Department will soon be fully equipped with new gear made free from chemicals known to cause cancer, making the city the largest in the country to reach such a milestone. Standing in front of dozens of SFFD recruits sporting the new yellow-striped uniforms, Mayor Daniel Lurie and Fire Chief Dean Crispen celebrated the achievement as the result of a collaborative, years-long push for safer equipment and better health outcomes for firefighters. (Bauman, 12/11)

A civil rights attorney filed a class action lawsuit against the city of Fresno alleging the homeless community has been criminalized and unduly prosecuted after the city adopted its anti-camping ordinance. (Miller, 12/11)

More health news from across the U.S. —

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ $117 billion state budget proposal for 2026-27 includes $4.1 billion for health care, with major investments in cancer research, emergency medical innovation and public health infrastructure. The largest slice is a $277.5 million package for cancer research. (Mayer, 12/11)

Connecticut will spend $70 million to partly offset the looming loss of $295 million in enhanced federal tax credits that subsidize health insurance premiums for tens of thousands of residents under the Affordable Care Act, Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday. (Pazniokas and Hagen, 12/11)

Three Northeast Ohio hospitals — University Hospitals, MetroHealth System and Summa Health —collectively spent $1.23 billion to benefit their communities in Northeast Ohio in 2024, according to reports recently released by the health systems. (Washington, 12/12)

Advocates and state agency directors pitched recommendations to lawmakers Tuesday on how to prioritize legislative funds for the health and well-being of women, children and families during the upcoming legislative session. The nine-member Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families, chaired by Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, was formed in 2022 after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The group’s mission was designed to make the state safer for moms and babies. (Paffenroth, 12/11)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Epic Systems Corp. for antitrust violations, accusing the healthcare software company of leveraging its control over patient medical records to maintain dominance in the market. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state court in Texas, claims that the software giant is the dominant provider of electronic health records, or EHS, in the US and uses that position to run an “anticompetitive playbook” that harms competitors and prevents hospitals and patients from accessing key data. (Mekelburg, 12/11)

Old antibiotics are losing effectiveness — and new ones aren’t being discovered fast enough. Our best hope to save lives may be AI. (Krieger, 12/10)

Drugmakers are moving to sell their medicines directly to patients, abandoning the middlemen they have long relied on. The shift is a huge departure from how pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Pfizer have sold drugs for decades and threatens the multibillion-dollar business of firms that have traditionally filled prescriptions. (Loftus, 12/8)

More and more countries are legalizing medically assisted death. But even as the concept gains acceptance, there are difficult, unresolved questions about who should be eligible. (Nolen, 12/9)

A head-to-toe guide to the many unexpected symptoms of the midlife transition. (Astor, 12/10)

After years of misdiagnoses and unexplained symptoms, Annie Sedoric finally discovered the rare condition that was reshaping her body: acromegaly. (Zimmerman, 12/6)

In case you missed it —

Mistrust is rooted in lived experience, medical racism, systemic neglect, and a history that still shapes Black patients’ choices. (Durham, 12/2)

We asked experts to break down the top 10 questions about how the transplant system works — and why equity matters. (Durham, 11/13)

Americans are being failed by their government. As it stands, Congress will go home for the holidays without rescuing millions of people whose health insurance premiums will double or more next year. This will mean agonizing dilemmas over already stretched family budgets. Or even decisions not to have any health insurance at all. (Stephen Collinson, 12/11)

The goal of public health is no longer to protect babies from disease, but to protect them from vaccines. (Leana S. Wen, 12/11)

Anyone who has visited a chain retail pharmacy knows that we are understaffed. It becomes obvious as patients stand in a long line, watching one of the few technicians waiting for the pharmacist to finish verifying an order before they can help the next customer. (Chris Eggeman, 12/12)

There is plenty of bad news about health care these days — insurance companies refusing to pay for necessary care, astronomical drug prices, and hospital staff shortages — but there are still some reasons for hope. I first wrote about nurse staffing problems in The New York Times in 2010. Then, new research revealed a scary fact: When nurses are overworked, more patients die. (Theresa Brown, 12/12)

A relatively mundane middle-aged rite of passage — shingles vaccination — might offer an added benefit: protection against, or even the slowing of the progression of, dementia. (Lisa Jarvis, 12/11)