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

Congress is back after a week-plus Thanksgiving break. And days are slipping off the calendar as lawmakers try to create a plan for health care or cover the cost of premium increases.

The deadline is the end of the calendar year. But Fox was told insurance companies had to take action by January 15.

Still, that doesn’t give Congress much time to act. And, depending on the measure, the House is scheduled to meet for just nine days during the remainder of 2025.

The Senate is less clear, but unofficially the Senate will only meet for nine more days.

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The parliament is scheduled to meet from Tuesday to Friday. Then from December 15th to December 19th.

The Senate meets on Monday. However, it is unclear whether the Senate will convene on Friday.

The Senate also meets from December 15 through at least December 18. But anything beyond that is a bit lacking.

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But this is where things get interesting.

The assembly was not originally scheduled to meet on December 19. However, this date was added to the schedule a few weeks ago.

Some may interpret this added date as a “code” for the possibility that the Assembly may need to be in town on the weekend of December 20th through December 21st, and perhaps beyond. Since Christmas Day does not happen until that Thursday, there is a possibility that the Parliament will add days to the calendar during this period.

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So in theory, Parliament has a few extra days to resolve issues before December 25. It would be a different situation if Christmas fell on a Monday or Tuesday.

So let me summarize what this means.

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

House Republicans aim to release a healthcare plan in the coming days. But developing a coalition to support such a package without bipartisan support and the full support of President Donald Trump would likely hinder any healthcare package.

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Remember, Republicans have been talking about an alternative plan to Obamacare since 2009 but have never adopted anything. So it’s really hard to believe they can pass anything in the next 26 days.

The Senate is expected to vote on rival health care plans late next week. The GOP’s proposal is still uncertain.

Senate Democrats announced a three-year extension of existing Obamacare subsidies. 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 cause everyone to get serious. Usually in the Senate, something has to fail before the parties get serious about compromise and start trying.

This brings us back to the calendar.

So, with the deadline for skyrocketing health care premiums, it’s possible that Congress will approach and/or rush through the holidays to pass some sort of health care fix before the end of 2025.

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Therefore, the weekend and the days between December 20 and December 23, which are not included in the congressional calendar, may be primary targets for Congress to try to pass something.

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This makes no sense about Congress coming back after Christmas and trying to pass something before or around the New Year.

Both bodies are technically scheduled to return to session on January 5.

And remember, the Senate passed its version of the original Obamacare plan just after dawn on Christmas Eve 2009.

Debates over rising costs in healthcare, especially Obamacare, have divided Republicans and they are pondering whether the system should be reformed or replaced. (Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images; Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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There’s also something lurking in the background: spending bills to fund the government.

Government funding ends on January 30 at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time. Nine of the 12 annual spending bills for Fiscal Year 2026 have not yet been completed. The House expects to consider several bills before the end of the year.

But if Congress doesn’t address anything related to health care before the end of January, the likelihood of another government shutdown increases exponentially.

That’s why I give you “good news of comfort and joy.”