Healthcare Policy

The Senate held dueling votes on Democrats’ clean three‑year extension of enhanced ACA premium tax credits and the GOP’s Cassidy–Crapo “Health Care Freedom for Patients Act” redirecting funds into HSAs, and both measures failed in cloture votes, each receiving 51 votes — short of the 60 needed. With enhanced credits set to expire Jan. 1 and millions of marketplace enrollees facing sharply higher premiums, lawmakers said they will pivot to bipartisan negotiations to seek a short‑term or compromise fix.

Sacramento-based Sutter Health will stop providing gender-affirming procedures for patients under 19 across its network effective Dec. 10, citing the need to comply with recent federal actions following President Trump’s executive order on youth transitions. A Sutter spokesperson said under-19 surgeries had already ceased and physicians are engaging families to determine care plans in light of anticipated requirements, as other systems including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Stanford Medicine, and Kaiser Permanente have also paused aspects of minors’ gender care.