“Vulnerable Republicans have a big political problem on their hands,” Punchbowl News reports.

“The bipartisan Senate negotiations to revive enhanced Obamacare subsidies are all but dead, leaving health care costs skyrocketing for millions of Americans. At-risk GOP lawmakers must now wage a new fight, figuring out if — and how — they can force their party to take up legislation to help Americans dealing with rising costs before the midterm elections.”

Wall Street Journal: “Top Senate negotiators said an effort to renew expired healthcare subsidies had effectively collapsed, likely ending the hopes of 20 million Americans that the tax-credit expansion could be revived and lower their monthly insurance premiums.”

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) told Semafor that bipartisan talks over reviving Affordable Care Act subsidies aren’t dead yet.

Jonathan Cohn: “As of this past Wednesday, the South Carolina Department of Public Health had logged more than eight hundred cases of the highly contagious disease, with many more unreported infections presumably out there because not all parents seek formal medical care for their kids.”

“The official tally is now growing by more than a hundred cases each week and has blown past the count from last year’s Texas outbreak, which killed three people, including the first two American children to die of measles in a decade.”

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has turned GOP policy orthodoxy on its head with his attacks on food and pharma,” Politico reports.

“He’s also turning Republicans into advocates of eating more vegetables, drinking raw milk and eschewing pharmaceuticals. Even in Washington, where Kennedy takes near-daily abuse from Democrats and public health experts for his moves to discourage vaccination, Republicans increasingly see him not just as a new ally in the MAGA political tent, but as a guru to guide their lives toward a healthier future.”

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.”