The state of the country’s health care landscape is in flux, according to top health experts and lawmakers, as the federal government shutdown hinges on the battle over health care access and new priorities crystallize under the second Trump administration.

Health policy experts, key lawmakers and industry leaders spoke at The Hill’s “Health Next Summit” on Tuesday, laying out their view of where U.S. public health is headed — and the dangers and opportunities on the horizon.

The discussions took place one week into the first government shutdown in years, as Democrats demand an extension of enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act Marketplace plans.

Tuesday’s event was sponsored by ByHeart. Here’s what to know:

Public health leaders fearful

Policy experts expressed concerns about how Trump administration policy changes will negatively impact health care.

Richard Besser, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s control over federal health “absolutely frightening.”

“The idea that we have, as a secretary of health, one of the nation's leading anti-vaccine advocates is absolutely frightening,” said Besser. He called the firing of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and subsequent replacement with members that included some known vaccine critics “really scary.”

“The CDC was really the world's crown jewel when it came to a public health agency and unfortunately, that's not the case anymore. There's terrific people still working at the CDC, but its ability to do its job has been severely compromised,”........

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