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Abortion Politics May Block Obamacare Deal

January 6, 2026 at 1:28 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters that there’s “potentially a path forward” on Obamacare subsidy talks, but the Hyde amendment, which blocks federal money for abortions, remains “probably the most challenging part of this.”

Said Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), in response to President Trump asking GOP lawmakers for flexibility: “I’m not flexible on the value of every child’s life.”

Filed Under: Abortion, Health Care

You Can Get ‘All the Diseases’

January 6, 2026 at 12:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Department of Health and Human Services either committed an editing error or is offering “all diseases” to Americans via the Affordable Care Act, Mediaite reports.

From the fact sheet: “Ensures that all the diseases covered by the previous immunization schedule will still be available to anyone who wants them through Affordable Care Act insurance plans and federal insurance programs.”

Filed Under: Health Care

Trump Offers Medical Advice

January 6, 2026 at 8:27 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “Trump posted an almost entirely all-caps Truth Social message with a series of medical exhortations that many doctors and public health experts have said largely lack evidence, from telling pregnant women to avoid Tylenol to calling for vaccines to be split up.”

Filed Under: Health Care

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Bill Cassidy Slams Change in Vaccine Policy

January 6, 2026 at 7:42 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a doctor who provided the decisive vote to install Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he nation’s top health official, decried the change to the country’s vaccine policies, saying it “will cause unnecessary fear for patients and doctors, and will make America sicker.”

Filed Under: Health Care

RFK Jr. Scales Back Vaccines Recommended for Children

January 5, 2026 at 2:11 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Federal health officials on Monday announced dramatic revisions to the slate of vaccines recommended for American children, reducing the number of diseases prevented by routine shots to 11 from 17,” the New York Times reports.

“The announcement is a seismic shift in federal vaccine policy, and perhaps the most significant change yet in public health practice by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, who has long sought to reduce the number of shots American children receive.”

Filed Under: Health Care

Democrats to Campaign on Expired Obamacare Subsidies

January 2, 2026 at 6:32 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Obamacare subsidies used by more than 20 million expired Thursday. Now Democrats are ready to make them a centerpiece of their midterm campaigns,” Politico reports.

“The lapse of enhanced premium tax credits, first passed as a pandemic-era relief measure under President Joe Biden in 2021, will immediately hit the pocketbooks of voters — some of whom will see their monthly insurance premiums rise by hundreds of dollars.”

Filed Under: Health Care

U.S. Vaccination Rates Are Plunging

December 31, 2025 at 1:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Vaccination rates among kindergarten students have plunged across broad swaths of the United States since before the pandemic, exposing children and families to increasing health risks as many school districts pull back from their traditional role as a bulwark against infectious disease,” the Washington Post reports.

“The accelerating decline reveals the lasting medical consequences of a political backlash against public health efforts during the pandemic, which radicalized many against long-standing vaccine mandates.”

Filed Under: Health Care

Health Care Costs Spike for 22 Million Americans

December 31, 2025 at 10:51 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“It’s a near certainty that enhanced subsidies for health insurance purchased on the Affordable Care Act marketplace will expire at year’s end amid political gridlock — and some consumers are poised to be hit especially hard by the loss,” CNBC reports.

“The expiration of the enhanced subsidies would raise insurance premiums for roughly 22 million recipients, or about 92% of ACA marketplace enrollees.”

“KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, estimates the average recipient would see their premiums more than double in 2026 if the subsidies disappear.”

“But certain people — including early retirees, small-business owners, middle-income consumers, Black and Latino households, and residents of many states that voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 — would be more financially exposed to a subsidy lapse, according to health experts.”

The Economist: “A 60-year-old couple with a household income of $85,000 could see their annual payments rise by more than $22,600 from a baseline of $7,225 this year.”

Filed Under: Health Care

U.S. Measles Cases Hit 30 Year High

December 31, 2025 at 6:27 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The number of recorded measles cases in the U.S. during 2025 has exceeded 2,000 for the first time in more than 30 years,” Axios reports.

“This year’s surge in cases and prolonged outbreaks could cause the U.S. to lose its globally recognized measles ‘elimination status’ for the first time in decades by the end of January 2026.”

“The outbreaks come amid Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to downplay the risks of measles and spread misleading claims about the vaccine, while suggesting other alternatives without evidence.”

Filed Under: Health Care

Inside RFK Jr.’s Reshaping of Public Health

December 30, 2025 at 6:43 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“On his way to being confirmed as the nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised lawmakers he would do nothing that ‘makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines,’” the Washington Post reports.

“Almost 100 days into the job, amid rising measles outbreaks and congressional scrutiny of his messaging on vaccines, Kennedy made clear behind the scenes that he wanted to reshape the nation’s immunization system.”

Filed Under: Health Care

States Step Into the Breach on Obamacare Subsidies

December 29, 2025 at 4:58 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“At least a dozen states are working to shield people from soaring health insurance costs following Congress’ failure to extend Obamacare subsidies for tens of millions of Americans,” Politico reports.

“The efforts, which include actions taken by state leaders in California, Colorado and Maryland, in nearly every case come with a major caveat: They will only be able to help a portion of the people whose health insurance will be too expensive without the enhanced subsidies that Congress opted not to renew before leaving Washington for the year.”

Filed Under: Health Care

Experts Question Denmark’s Vaccine Program

December 29, 2025 at 9:19 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The United States, a nation of 343 million people with a complex and overburdened health care system, is poised to adopt the childhood vaccine recommendations used in Denmark, a country of six million with universal health care. The decision has alarmed public health experts in both countries,” the New York Times reports.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary, is expected to announce the move in the new year. It would reduce the number of immunizations required for American children to 10 from 17, radically changing the recommended vaccines without the deliberative process that the United States has relied on for decades.”

Filed Under: Health Care

Why RFK Jr.’s Plan to Follow Europe Is Getting Panned

December 26, 2025 at 10:04 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plans to have the U.S. childhood vaccination schedule mirror Denmark’s are also getting pushback from critics who argue that the U.S. doesn’t have European levels of health care access and has different levels of disease, Politico reports.

Filed Under: Health Care

Medicaid Paid Millions for Dead People

December 23, 2025 at 12:55 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Medicaid programs made more than $200 million in improper payments to health care providers between 2021 and 2022 for people who had already died,” the AP reports.

Filed Under: Health Care

U.S. to Stop Recommending Childhood Vaccines

December 20, 2025 at 6:57 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration plans to shift the federal government away from directly recommending most vaccines for children and suggest they receive fewer shots to more closely align with Denmark’s immunization model,” the Washington Post reports.

Filed Under: Health Care

Why Four Republicans Broke Ranks with Mike Johnson

December 18, 2025 at 10:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Four House Republicans snubbed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and teamed up with Democrats to force a House vote on a three-year extension of expiring Obamacare funds,” NBC News reports.

“All of them have one thing in common: They face re-election in swing districts in next year’s midterm elections.”

“And since the GOP hasn’t come up with a replacement plan, voters will have little doubt about whom to blame when those premium hikes hit.”

Filed Under: Health Care

Exchange of the Day

December 17, 2025 at 3:51 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) spoke to Kaitlin Collins on CNN:

COLLINS: What do you say to people who say Republicans have had 15 years to change the ACA and they haven’t done it?

SCOTT: Well, I mean, Democrats they’re the ones who created these subsidies… Why didn’t Democrats fix it?

Filed Under: Health Care

Trump Taps Doctor Who Pushed Unproven Covid Treatment

December 17, 2025 at 2:35 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Harvey Risch, a Yale epidemiologist long respected for his work in cancer research but who has faced controversy for promoting an unproven covid-19 treatment, has been selected by President Donald Trump to lead the nation’s cancer initiative,” the Washington Post reports.

Filed Under: Health Care

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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