Congress faces a tight deadline to address spiking healthcare premiums before year-end, with only nine scheduled meeting days remaining in 2025.

congress returned after its week-long Thanksgiving recess. And days are slipping off the calendar as lawmakers struggle to put together a plan to address health care or meet the cost of rising insurance premiums.

The deadline is the end of the calendar year. But insurers only need to take action by January 15, Fox was told.

However, this does not give Congress much time to act. Depending on the scale, the House is scheduled to meet for only nine days for the rest of 2025.

Senate It’s not clear, but unofficially, the Senate will meet for only nine more days.

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The House of Representatives is scheduled to be in session from Tuesday to Friday. Then from December 15 to December 19.

The Senate meets on Monday. But it is unclear whether the Senate will meet on Friday.

The Senate also meets at least December 15-18. But anything beyond that is a bit vague.

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However, this is where things get interesting.

The House of Representatives was not originally scheduled to meet on December 19. But this date was added to the schedule a few weeks ago.

Some may interpret this additional date as “code” for the possibility that the House of Representatives will need to be in town the weekend of December 20-21, and perhaps beyond. There is a possibility that the House will add days to the calendar around that period because Christmas Day does not fall until Thursday.

Democrats are doing everything they can to keep Obama’s support for health care alive after the vote to reopen the government

So, in theory, the House has a few extra days at its disposal to address issues before December 25. It would be different if the birthday itself fell on a Monday or Tuesday.

So let me explain what this means.

Developing a coalition to support such a package — without bipartisan support and the full backing of President Donald Trump — would likely scuttle any health care package. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Republicans in the House of Representatives aim to issue a health care plan in the coming days. But developing a coalition to support such a package — without bipartisan support and the full backing of President Donald Trump — would likely derail any health care package.

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Keep in mind that Republicans have talked about an alternative plan to Obamacare since 2009, but have never passed anything. So, it’s really hard to believe that they can get through anything in the next 26 days.

The Senate is expected to hold votes on the competing health care plans late next week. The Republican Party’s offer remains unclear.

Senate Democrats just unveiled a three-year extension of existing Obamacare benefits. Any bill needs 60 years. So, expect the Democrats’ plan to die immediately.

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Frankly, the failure of both plans in the Senate would likely make everyone take it seriously. Often, in the Senate, something has to fail first for both sides to get serious about reaching a compromise and start rushing.

This brings us back to the calendar.

Thus, with the deadline for higher health care premiums, it is possible that Congress will race up to and/or through the holidays to pass some type of health care reform before the end of 2025.

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For this reason, the weekends and days between December 20 and 23, which are not on the congressional calendar, can be prime targets for Congress to work on passing something.

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Not to mention Congress coming back after Christmas and trying to approve something before or near the new year.

The two bodies are technically scheduled to return to session on January 5.

And don’t forget, the Senate passed its version of the original Obamacare plan just after dawn on Christmas Eve 2009.

Debates over rising health care costs, primarily surrounding Obamacare, have divided Republicans considering reforming or replacing the system. (Written by Leah Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images; Stephanie Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Also lurking in the background: spending bills to fund the government.

Government funding expires at 11:59:59 PM ET on January 30. Nine of the 12 annual spending bills for fiscal year 2026 remain incomplete. The House of Representatives expects to address some draft laws before the end of the year.

But if Congress fails to address anything related to health care before the end of January, the odds of another government shutdown increase dramatically.

Therefore, I bring you good news of comfort and joy.