Congress

The pandemic was the dominant — but not the only — health policy story of 2020. In this Kaiser Health News podcast, panelists look at some of the year's biggest non-coronavirus stories.

Bill Herrle heads the National Federation of Independent Business in Florida. He says the aid would be welcome.

The president called the $600 payments to individuals "ridiculously low" and the billions appropriated for foreign aid, environmental programs and cultural institutions "wasteful."

Congress has passed a long-debated measure to stop health care providers from billing patients for charges not covered by their insurance. Here's how the new protection works.

From direct payments for American households to mass transit, the congressional relief package contains money for individuals and institutions affected by the coronavirus pandemic. But there's more.

The legislation extending aid to unemployed, providing money for vaccine distribution and a round of $600 stimulus checks was attached to an annual government funding bill that tacked on other items.

"At long last, we have the bipartisan breakthrough the country has needed," says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But a top aide to Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted that she spoke to the treasury secretary Wednesday about a standalone measure to help airlines. A previous attempt to do this failed amid GOP opposition.

Earlier Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell urged more congressional action to help the economy recover from the recession caused by the pandemic.

Updated at 1:37 p.m. ETAmid criticism from Democrats that politics may be guiding decisions at the nation's top health agencies, the commissioner of the…