December 15 is the deadline to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans that begin January 1. Congress remains at odds over letting expanded tax credits for the plans’ premiums expire, dramatically increasing the cost of insurance for millions of Americans. 

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to remake vaccine policy to reflect ideology rather than science. 

Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Maya Goldman of Axios join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. 

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

Visit our website for a transcript of this episode.

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.