Lawmakers are scrambling to address skyrocketing health care costs in the final days before Congress leaves Washington for the holidays, with enhanced tax credits that make insurance premiums more affordable for millions of Americans set to expire at the end of the month.

With subsidies that help consumers pay their health insurance premiums set to expire, health care shoppers face staggering prices. Lawmakers are running out of time to agree on a solution.

A new Gallup poll found that about eight in 10 Democrats, and 64 percent of Republicans, say the system is in crisis or has “major problems.”

If it weren’t for health care and social assistance, hiring would have been totally flat last month. And there are signs health care hiring growth may be slowing. “Health care is really the last remaining reliable source of jobs growth for today's job market,” said Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor.

The Affordable Care Act — once a liability for Democrats that cost them in several election cycles after the law’s inception — has become one of the party’s strongest assets, more popular with the public in 2025 than at any time in its 15-year history.

Congress is facing an approaching deadline to extend expiring ACA tax credits or millions of Americans may pay higher premiums.

Seven hospitals in New Jersey have received the Leapfrog Group’s “Top Hospital Award” for excellence in patient safety and quality of care.

Without the payments, retirees will have to pay hundreds to thousands more each year, according to the Michigan Nurses Association.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leaders are determined to push ahead with a GOP health care bill that excludes efforts to address the soaring monthly premiums millions of Americans will soon endure as pandemic-era tax credits for people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act expire at year’s end.