Senators Eye Drug Price Reform To Pay For Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
Earlier plans to cover the costs of the bill to restore the nation's roads, bridges and other structures and transportation have hit a road block with some Republican groups, and senators trying to save the deal are now looking at an effort to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices for beneficiaries, which would save the federal government money.
Axios:
GOP Joins Dems In Taking On Big Pharma
Senators working to keep the bipartisan infrastructure deal alive are zeroing in on Medicare prescription drug rebate formulas to offset up to $60 billion of the $1.2 trillion package, people familiar with the matter tell Axios. Targeting those funds puts the bipartisan infrastructure plan in competition with the $3.5 trillion, Democrat-only plan proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I.-Vt.). It also assumes new money from altering complicated prescription drug formulas. (Nichols, 7/18)
Modern Healthcare:
Congress Eyes Fix To Medicaid Expansion Gap That Would Boost Rural Hospitals
Rural hospitals facing potential closures could see a lifeline in the form of a multi-trillion dollar package President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats aim to pass this year. Democrats plan to extend health insurance coverage to 2 million low-income, uninsured people who live in the 12 states that haven't expanded Medicaid , circumventing mostly-Republican governors and state legislatures that have opposed adopting the expansion, which is 90% financed by the federal government under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). More patients with health coverage would be a boon to rural hospitals in non-expansion states like Texas and Florida. (Hellmann, 7/16)
KHN:
Biden’s July Executive Order Includes Drug Pricing Provisions. But Will They Do Enough?
President Joe Biden’s executive order of July 9 included various steps toward making good on campaign promises to take on pharmaceutical companies by allowing the importation of prescription drugs and curbing the high cost of medicines. These issues were key to candidate Biden’s 2020 health care platform, which stated he would “stand up to abuse of power” by drugmakers. Biden promised on his campaign website that he would allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from other countries, as long as the Department of Health and Human Services deemed it safe. In speeches, candidate Biden also pledged to bring down drug costs by 60%. (Knight, 7/19)
In updates on the Affordable Care Act —
Modern Healthcare:
State Public Options May Suffer Without More Federal Funding
The Biden administration's plan to retool Obamacare marketplaces could open the door to more states offering a public option, but the president's goal to expand coverage could suffer if CMS doesn't give states enough leeway to spend federal money. The language around Section 1332 waivers in the market modernization proposed rule is similar to the Obama administration's 2015 guidance but features more explicit language about improving health equity. Biden's team wants states to apply for waivers that would increase the number of people covered, offer more comprehensive coverage, make comprehensive coverage more affordable or address health equity and the social determinants of health. (Brady, 7/16)
In other news from the Biden administration —
Politico:
Frustrated Industry Groups See Biden’s Covid Czar As Obstacle To Reopening Travel
The White House is resisting lifting U.S. travel bans on a broad swath of foreign countries, despite a rising chorus of voices both inside and outside the administration questioning whether they are still necessary in the fight against Covid-19. Critics of the bans point to Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus pandemic response, as the main obstacle standing in the way of easing the longstanding restrictions, according to five people familiar with the matter. And some of them have grown so frustrated with Zients that they said they have begun discussing ways to go around him and take their case to other top administration officials instead. (Kumar and Meyer, 7/17)
Stat:
Atul Gawande, Bureaucrat: A Tough Job Would Await Him At USAID
Atul Gawande has been a renowned surgeon, an award-winning magazine writer and author, a Rhodes scholar, a recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant,” and the CEO of a briefly ballyhooed health care company. Now he is hoping to be a bureaucrat. President Biden nominated the 55-year-old Gawande last week to the post of assistant administrator for global health at the United States Agency for International Development, better known as USAID. (Branswell, 7/19)
CNBC:
Kamala Harris Heads To Walter Reed For Routine Checkup
Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday for a routine doctor’s appointment, a White House official told NBC News. There isn’t any indication at this time that the appointment is related to the vice president’s meeting last week with Texas Democratic lawmakers, a few of whom have since tested positive for Covid-19. (Newburger, 7/18)
