WASHINGTON — The House and Senate are close to a bipartisan deal on a healthcare package that includes reforms to drug middlemen business practices and hospital billing, according to five people following the deliberations.
The deal, first reported by Axios, does not include an extension of the enhanced ACA premium subsidies, the primary health care policy that Democrats and some Republicans have focused on for the past several months.
Instead, the legislation package, which is part of an HHS-funding bill, is mostly made up of policies from an agreement at the end of 2024 that fell through at the last minute when Elon Musk and then President-elect Trump called on Republicans to oppose it. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…