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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.

Meanwhile, a federal vaccine advisory panel handpicked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted last week to end the universal recommendation for a hepatitis B vaccine dose at birth. It’s just the start of what are expected to be major changes in childhood vaccine recommendations overall.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times.

Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:

• As of Thursday morning, the Senate was preparing to vote on competing health proposals, neither of which was expected to pass: one, from Democrats, that would extend the enhanced ACA premium tax credits and a second, from Republicans, that would instead add money to health savings accounts for some ACA enrollees. With the credits set to expire and time running out to sign up for plans, it is likely that coverage will be unaffordable for some Americans, leaving them uninsured.
• The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ decision to end its recommendation that newborns be immunized against hepatitis B is a major development in the federal government’s shift away from promoting vaccines. While the panel coalesced around the claim that babies are most likely to contract hepatitis B from their mothers, the reality is that the virus can live on household items, posing a threat of chronic disease and death to unvaccinated children.
• In reproductive health news, House Speaker Mike Johnson removed insurance coverage of fertility treatment for service members from the National Defense Authorization Act before the legislation’s passage, and anti-abortion groups are calling for the firing of Food and Drug Administration head Marty Makary over reports he is slow-walking policy changes on medication abortion.

Also this week, Rovner interviews Georgetown University professor Linda Blumberg about what the GOP’s health plans have in common.

Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read (or wrote) this week that they think you should read, too: 

Julie Rovner: The Washington Post’s “Rural America Relies on Foreign Doctors. Trump’s Visa Fee Shuts Them Out,” by David Ovalle.  

Anna Edney: Bloomberg News’ “Abbott Fired a Warning Shot on Baby Formula — Then Launched a Lobbying Blitz,” by Anna Edney.  

Sheryl Gay Stolberg: The New York Times’ “The Married Scientists Torn Apart by a Covid Bioweapon Theory,” by Katie J.M. Baker.

Maya Goldman: ProPublica’s “These Health Centers Are Supposed to Make Care Affordable. One Has Sued Patients for as Little as $59 in Unpaid Bills,” by Aliyya Swaby.

Also mentioned in this week’s podcast:

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