Time’s Up for Expanded ACA Tax Credits

The Host

The enhanced premium tax credits that since 2021 have helped millions of Americans pay for insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces will expire Dec. 31, despite a last-ditch effort by Democrats and some moderate Republicans in the House of Representatives to force a vote to continue them. That vote will happen, but not until Congress returns in January.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services canceled a series of grants worth several million dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics after the group again protested HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes to federal vaccine policy.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Lizzy Lawrence of Stat, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.

Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:

• The House on Wednesday passed legislation containing several GOP health priorities, including policies that expand access to association health plans and lower the federal share of some Affordable Care Act exchange marketplace premiums. It did not include an extension of the expiring enhanced ACA premium tax credits — although, also on Wednesday, four Republicans signed onto a Democratic-led discharge petition forcing Congress to revisit the tax credit issue in January.
• In vaccine news, the American Academy of Pediatrics spoke out against the federal government’s recommendation of “individual decision-making” when it comes to administering the hepatitis B vaccine to newborns — and HHS then terminated multiple research grants to the AAP. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is funding a Danish study of the hepatitis B vaccine in West Africa through which some infants will not receive a birth dose, a strategy that critics are panning as unethical.
• Also, a second round of personnel cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs is expected to exacerbate an existing staffing shortage and further undermine care for retired service members.
• The FDA is considering rolling back labeling requirements on supplements — a “Make America Health Again”-favored industry that is already lightly regulated.
• And abortion opponents are pushing for the Environmental Protection Agency to add mifepristone to the list of dangerous chemicals the agency tracks in the nation’s water supply.

Also this week, Rovner interviews Tony Leys, who wrote the latest “Bill of the Month” feature, about an uninsured toddler’s expensive ambulance ride between hospitals.

Plus, for a special year-end “extra-credit” segment, the panelists suggest what they consider 2025’s biggest health policy themes: 

Julie Rovner: The future of the workforce in biomedical research and health care. 

Lizzy Lawrence: The politicization of science. 

Tami Luhby: The systemic impacts of cuts to the Medicaid program. 

Alice Miranda Ollstein: The resurgence of infectious diseases. 

Also mentioned in this week’s podcast:

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