2026 is here, and it is likely to be as busy as 2025. We start the year with a packed congressional agenda this month centered on potentially addressing the December 31, 2025, expiration of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced advanced premium tax credits (APTCs) and funding most federal agencies and health extenders beyond January 30, 2026. As a refresher, three appropriations bills have been signed into law for fiscal year (FY) 2026: Agriculture (including funding for the US Food and Drug Administration and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Legislative Branch, and Military Construction/Veterans Affairs. Funding for the other agencies, including for the US Department of Health and Human Services, was passed in a continuing resolution through January 30, 2026. Also tied to that date are health extenders, including Medicare telehealth flexibilities and funding for disproportionate share payments to hospitals.
Action this week is largely laying the groundwork for these agenda items to be addressed this month. The House could vote later this week on a minibus for three full FY 2026 appropriations bills: Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment. The goal is to package these three less-controversial bills together to potentially serve as the basis for a larger funding package to be passed by January 30, 2026. The House is also expected to vote on a three-year clean APTC extension bill following the successful discharge petition in late 2025 to force a floor vote on the bill. Democrats led the discharge petition, but it was also signed by four moderate Republicans: Reps. Fitzpatrick (PA), Mackenzie (PA), Lawler (NY), and Bresnahan (PA). It remains to be seen how many additional Republicans might support the legislation when it is on the House floor. While the bill is expected to pass the House, the Senate already rejected a three-year clean extension of the APTCs. Stakeholders will be watching to see whether House passage will galvanize bipartisan Senate discussions to temporarily extend the APTCs with some sort of reforms attached.
Amidst this activity, there could be some committee-level bipartisan agreement during Thursday’s House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, where members will discuss 10 Medicare bills. Democrats may also use the hearing to continue pushing for an APTC extension.
On the regulatory front, we await the release of the ACA Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027 proposed rule, which has been under Office of Management and Budget review since November 2025. And, for more information on the recent release of multiple Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center models, tune in to our January 13, 2026, webinar about the ACCESS model, where we will discuss what digital health companies should consider when debating applying to participate in the model.
In our first Healthcare Preview podcast of 2026, Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock join Julia Grabo to discuss the healthcare issues Congress is focused on as the second session of the 119th Congress begins.
