Congress returned from its holiday break facing a familiar question: whether to extend the expanded subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans that expired at the end of 2025.  

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. broke a promise to Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the chairman of Senate health committee, by overhauling the federal government’s childhood vaccine schedule to reduce the number of diseases for which vaccines will be recommended.  

Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. 

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: KFF Health News’ “Advertisements Promising Patients a ‘Dream Body’ With Minimal Risk Get Little Scrutiny,” by Fred Schulte.  

Alice Miranda Ollstein: SFGate’s “A Calif. Teen Trusted ChatGPT for Drug Advice. He Died From an Overdose,” by Lester Black and Stephen Council.  

Sarah Karlin-Smith: ProPublica’s “The End of Aid: Trump Destroyed USAID. What Happens Now?” by Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Brett Murphy.  

Lauren Weber: The Washington Post’s “How RFK Jr. Upended the Public Health System,” by Rachel Roubein, Lena H. Sun, and Lauren Weber.