WASHINGTON — Congress has reached a deal on several health care policies, including a crackdown on drug-industry middlemen, transparency measures for hospital billing, pediatric cancer research measures, and Medicare coverage of multi-cancer screening tests. Those measures are part of a bill to fund the Health and Human Services Department, which itself is part of a package of government spending bills for labor, education, defense, homeland security, transportation, and housing. The appropriations bill would give HHS $116.8 billion for fiscal 2026, an increase of $210 million over 2025 and $33 billion more that the Trump administration requested. Both the Senate and the House still must pass the legislation, and details could change before then. Many of the reforms in the health care package were part of a deal Congress struck in December of 2024 that quickly fell apart after then President-elect Trump and Elon Musk attacked it. Government funding runs out at the end of the month.Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…
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