Fight over US healthcare subsides stuck on familiar snag: abortion

Republicans refuse to move forward without further restrictions on abortion coverage – Democrats say that’s a non-starterWhen subsidies for US healthcare plans expired at the end of last year, millions of Americans saw their monthly premiums suddenly hit eye-watering, unaffordable levels. But the congressional fight over reviving the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies has gotten stuck on a familiar snag in US politics: abortion.Congressional leaders said on Thursday they had reached a bipartisan deal to use a spending bill to overhaul elements of the US healthcare system, with a focus on corporate middlemen who have been accused of raising prescription drug prices, but the deal does not address the subsidies. The deal could also fall apart, as Democrats and Republicans are now splintering over whether and how to back government spending measures in the wake of federal officers’ fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Continue reading...