A new KFF poll finds the cost of health care, including paying for health insurance and out-of-pocket expenses, tops the list of the public’s economic anxieties, rising well above other necessities.

Two-thirds of the public say they worry about being able to afford health care for them and their family, ranking higher than utilities, food and groceries, housing, and gas.

“A meeting this month between the head of the American Medical Association and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has prompted infighting within the nation’s leading lobbying group for doctors,” Politico reports.

“Following the Jan. 7 meeting, a contingent of member doctors wrote to the AMA’s board chair because they view Kennedy as a threat to public health whom the group should shun.”

A new study projected that by 2035, nearly half of all American adults, about 126 million individuals, will be living with obesity, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“The South Carolina measles outbreak has surpassed the recorded case count in Texas’ 2025 outbreak, as health officials have logged almost 600 new cases in just over a month,” the AP reports.

Katherine Wu: “Last year, starting in January, the United States experienced its largest documented measles outbreak in more than three decades, when an epidemic centered on West Texas sickened at least 762 people. Now a fast-moving outbreak in South Carolina seems poised to surpass it: Local officials have logged 700 infections, and the virus is still rapidly spreading.”

“As public-health officials scramble to contain the virus, they’re also trying to figure out whether these two outbreaks are connected—specifically, whether the version of the pathogen that kick-started the West Texas cases has been circulating within the nation’s borders ever since. If the answer is yes, it will mean that measles has once again become a permanent resident of this country, after 26 years of only limited outbreaks imported from abroad.”

“The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children be vaccinated against 18 diseases, more than the U.S. government directs after it overhauled its schedule,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The doctors group, which released its recommendations Monday, kept its guidance largely unchanged from its previous version from last year. The group said it doesn’t endorse the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s childhood-vaccine schedule. The agency now recommends all children get vaccinated against 11 diseases.”

“Offering a startlingly candid view into the philosophy guiding vaccine recommendations under the Trump administration, the leader of the federal panel that recommends vaccines for Americans said shots against polio and measles — and perhaps all diseases — should be optional, offered only in consultation with a clinician,” the New York Times reports.

“Congressional leaders reached a bipartisan, bicameral health care deal early Tuesday morning they hope lawmakers will pass later this week as part of a four-bill government spending package,” Politico reports.

“In a continued blow for members on both sides of the aisle, the agreement would not revive enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that lapsed at the end of last year and are causing premiums to spike for individuals on Obamacare insurance plans.”

President Trump announced his “Great Healthcare Plan” to little fanfare on Capitol Hill last week, Politico reports.

“The question now is how willing and able congressional Republicans will be to actually pass any of it into law after stumbling for years over politically toxic plans to undo Obamacare. The prognosis is not encouraging for the White House.”

“Key parts of the light-on-details proposal likely won’t meet the strict Senate rules for party-line legislation that could skirt a Democratic filibuster. Similar cost-reduction proposals from Republicans ran into problems on that count in last year’s tax-cuts-focused megabill.”

“President Donald Trump unveiled a multipart proposal on Thursday aimed at lowering prescription drug prices and reducing health insurance premiums, as well as increasing pricing transparency. He also vowed to hold big insurance companies accountable,” CNN reports.

“The plan, which the president is calling on Congress to pass, proposes sending money directly to consumers, not insurers, as he has advocated for in recent months amid the debate over whether to extend the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium subsidies, which expired at the end of last year.”

“The Senate will leave town this afternoon for 10 days with no deal to revive premium enhanced Obamacare subsidies, and no sign they’re moving toward any compromise on the key hang-ups,” Punchbowl News reports.

“Senators involved in bipartisan health care talks are struggling to reach agreement among themselves. Even if they can, the group would need to build consensus among senators on both sides of the aisle in order to pass a bill, somehow push the measure through the House and then convince President Donald Trump to sign it.”

“All of those steps are incredibly difficult. Meanwhile, the clock is close to running out. Open enrollment for marketplace plans ends today.”

“About 1.4 million fewer people have enrolled in Obamacare coverage this year in the face of soaring premiums, according to an early report, following the expiration of the enhanced subsidies that helped lower the cost of health insurance for millions of Americans,” the New York Times reports.

President Trump said his administration will release a framework to lower health care costs later this week, USA Today reports.

“Democrats sent Republicans a proposal over the weekend to renew enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years, paired with extensions of other expiring health programs,” Axios reports.

“Sunday’s offer shows there’s increasing bipartisan sentiment to address long-stalled priorities like overhauling pharmacy benefit manager business practices — even if prospects for the ACA subsidies are much murkier.”

“The largest nurses strike in New York City history has started after negotiators for five major hospitals and the state nurses union failed to agree to a new contract by Monday’s deadline,” CBS News reports.

President Trump said Sunday he may veto a bill to extend Obamacare subsidies if Congress sent one to his desk, 
Bloomberg reports.