“Premiums for the most popular types of plans sold on the federal health insurance marketplace Healthcare.gov will spike on average by 30 percent next year, according to final rates approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,” the Washington Post reports.

” The rise in prices — affecting up to 17 million Americans who buy coverage on the federal marketplace — are by far the largest annual premium increases in recent years. The higher premiums, along with the likely expiration of pandemic-era subsidies, mean millions of people will see their health insurance payments double or even triple in 2026.”

“Republicans are barreling toward the upcoming Obamacare enrollment period without a unified plan to address the sticker shock that millions of Americans are likely to experience due to the expiration of key federal subsidies,” Politico reports.

“The lack of direction comes from the top, with President Donald Trump not providing clear guidance to his party on how he wants to deal with the expiring subsidies that could result in dramatic out-of-pocket price hikes for enrollees.”

“The nation’s second-largest measles outbreak this year is spreading beyond its epicenter along the Utah-Arizona border,” NBC News reports.

“Millions of Americans are already seeing their health insurance costs soar for 2026 as Congress remains deadlocked over extending covid-era subsidies for premiums,” the Washington Post reports.

“The bitter fight sparked a government shutdown at the start of October. Democrats refuse to vote on government-funding legislation unless it extends the subsidies, while Republicans insist on separate negotiations after reopening the government. Now lawmakers face greater pressure to act as Americans who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act are seeing, or about to see, the consequences of enhanced subsidies expiring at the end of the year.”

“Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are quietly ramping up talks within their senior ranks and with White House officials over how to structure and advance a potential extension of key Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies before the end of the year,” Politico reports.

Punchbowl News: “We’ve written about how Nov. 1, the start of open enrollment for health insurance, could be a moment for Senate Democrats to declare “victory” and allow the government to reopen. Last week, top Democrats pushed back on this theory, saying Nov. 1 will only increase the pressure on Republicans to accede to their health care demands.”

“But now, there’s a sense within the Senate Democratic Caucus that this deadline is in fact their off-ramp to end the shutdown. Democrats can argue it’s no longer feasible for Congress to address the expiring Obamacare subsidies legislatively. The goal here would be to make Republicans own the soaring premium hikes and health-care coverage losses that millions of Americans would experience.”

“If Democrats are willing to accept a political victory without a policy win, this is a critical moment for Schumer to figure out what this looks like — and how he shields himself from inevitable criticism from the left.”

“The window for extending billions of dollars in Americans’ healthcare subsidies is closing rapidly,” the Washington Post reports.

“Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies are set to end after this year unless Congress acts, and open enrollment for insurance next year starts next month. Democrats have demanded that Republicans negotiate on extending the subsidies as a condition for ending the government shutdown, now in its third full week. Republicans recognize that many of their voters will be hurt by a cutoff in tax credits, but say the program known as Obamacare needs major changes.”

“Any deal to end the shutdown is expected to involve a fix for the expiring ACA subsidies, which flow to more than 20 million people. But extending the enhanced subsidies would be difficult to swallow for Republicans in Congress, who have spent the past decade and a half railing against the 2010 law that passed—and was later expanded—with only Democratic votes.”

“The federal shutdown that is nearing its fourth week with no end in sight carries plenty of political risk for Democrats, who Republicans have accused of refusing to fulfill their responsibility to fund the government,” the New York Times reports.

“But it has also thrust President Trump and the G.O.P. onto the defensive on health care, an issue that has long been a major weakness for the party.”

“Democrats in Congress are holding fast to their position that they will not agree to a spending deal unless Republicans include an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits that would stave off premium increases and the loss of coverage for millions of Americans.”

“Senate Majority Leader John Thune reiterated this morning that he’d be willing to give Senate Democrats a vote on a bill to extend the enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies in exchange for reopening the government,” Punchbowl News reports.

“Senate Democrats have rejected that offer. They want an Obamacare subsidy deal as part of any funding bill to reopen the government. And even if Democrats get a vote in the Senate, there’s no guarantee that Johnson will reciprocate. It’s become very complicated.”

Punchbowl News: “It’s true that there are House Republicans eager to extend the enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits. A significant number of them.”

“It’s also true that when Republicans are being honest, they’ll admit privately that if Congress fails to extend the credits and premiums skyrocket for millions of Americans, the GOP will be to blame.”

“But here’s another truth: House Republican leadership really doesn’t want to extend these tax credits. And their view is only hardening as the shutdown drags on.”

“President Trump plans to announce a policy proposal on Thursday to make in vitro fertilization more accessible, the first concrete step from the White House on an issue that Mr. Trump repeatedly promised to address on the campaign trail,” the New York Times reports.

Americans who say the U.S. is less healthy under the leadership of President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now outnumber believers 2-to-1, per the latest Axios-Ipsos poll.

House Democrats’ internal discussions about the government shutdown are centering on warnings of increasing health-care premiums and the Nov. 1 start of open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, Bloomberg Government reports.

New York Times: “The review at the Food and Drug Administration began after President Trump listed aluminum in vaccines as harmful during a press briefing about the unproven link between Tylenol and autism.”

“Aluminum salts have been in vaccines since the 1920s and are added to enhance the immune-stimulating effect against the virus or bacteria covered by the inoculation…”

“Vaccine experts said the tiny amount of aluminum salts in vaccines — often measured in the one-millionth of a gram — has a long track record of safety and is essential to generating lasting immunity from disease. Developing vaccines without aluminum, they said, would require an entirely new formulation from scratch.”

Washington Post: “Some 22 million Americans are set to lose health insurance subsidies by the end of the year…”

“About 80 percent of the people who benefit from them live in states that Donald Trump won in the 2024 presidential election. Many have no idea that their health insurance costs are on track to go up.”

“The public-health resistance to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is growing,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Governors across 15 states including New York, California and North Carolina are forming a new public-health alliance to detect and respond to disease threats, saying federal-funding cuts and policy changes by the Trump administration are putting their citizens at risk and forcing them to find alternatives.”

“The state leaders, all Democrats, will join forces to help one another prepare for pandemics, track infectious diseases, write public-health guidelines, share expertise on preventive care and buy vaccines and supplies in bulk.”

“Can we completely repeal and replace Obamacare? Many of us are skeptical about that now, because the roots are so deep, it was really sinister, the way it was created. I believe Obamacare was created to implode upon itself, to collapse upon itself.”

— Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), addressing reporters.

“When coal miners came to Washington in April, they posed behind President Trump at the White House, wearing their hard hats and thanking him for trying to reinvigorate their struggling industry,” the New York Times reports.

“But on Tuesday dozens of miners and their families will be in a more unusual position: protesting the Trump administration outside the Labor Department building, arguing it has failed to protect them from black lung disease, an incurable illness caused by inhaling coal and silica dust.”