All Drug Pricing Measures Dropped From Latest Spending Bill Framework

Stat: Biden Abandons His Push To Lower Drug Prices 
The White House is abandoning every single policy idea aimed at lowering prescription drug prices in President Biden’s domestic spending package, it announced Thursday morning. Biden is effectively admitting he can’t overcome deeply entrenched pharmaceutical industry opposition to any change to the status quo, even with broad political support for the effort, and both chambers of Congress in Democratic control. The announcement came as part of an effort from Biden to put together a framework for a major domestic spending package that the entire Democratic caucus in Congress could support. (Cohrs, 10/28)

Politico: Dems’ Drug Pricing Dreams Crash Into Reality In Social Spending Tumult 
Democrats control Washington and their proposal to let the government negotiate drug prices is backed by more than 80 percent of the public. But, like many before them, they have so far failed to prevail over the pharmaceutical industry and pass a plan that directly addresses the price of drugs for most Americans. The sweeping social spending package before Congress remains a work in progress and four industry lobbyists told POLITICO they aren‘t celebrating just yet. But President Joe Biden’s Thursday pitch to Capitol Hill eliminates any effort to crack down on drug prices, a coup for the industry that has spent months pouring millions into lobbying and advertising campaigns. (Ollstein, Wilson and Fuchs, 10/28)

Roll Call: Democrats Vow To Continue Fight On Drug Pricing In Budget Bill
Democrats on Capitol Hill say they are continuing to work toward allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for some prescription drugs in their social spending package, although the provision was left out of a $1.75 trillion framework agreement the White House released Thursday. For weeks, Democrats have been at odds over how to address drug pricing, a longtime party priority, in a budget reconciliation package. While it’s been clear that any effort to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices would likely be more narrow than the policy advanced by House committees last month, the framework only calls for repealing a Trump-era rule requiring pharmacy benefit managers and insurance companies to share drug manufacturer rebates with patients at the pharmacy counter. (McIntire and Clason, 10/28)

Stat: Pelosi Working To Gather Support For Last-Ditch Drug Pricing Policy
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office is working to gather support for a last-ditch proposal to lower prescription drug costs after the White House shunned the issue Thursday morning, according to four sources briefed on the policy. The new policy, which Pelosi’s office is pitching as a collaboration between House Energy & Commerce Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices for medications administered by doctors and at the pharmacy counter, after their so-called exclusivity period, granted by the Food and Drug Administration, expires, four sources said. (Cohrs, 10/28)

Stat: Here's How Biden Can Address Drug Prices Without Congress
If President Biden wants major pharmaceutical industry reforms, he may have to achieve them on his own. That’s looking increasingly likely after the White House’s concession on Thursday that it is abandoning its push for Congress to include major drug pricing provisions in its long-debated social spending bill. (Facher, 10/29)

Also —

AP: Medicaid Issues, Not Medicare's, Get Fixes In Biden Budget
Medicaid issues are turning up as winners in President Joe Biden’s social agenda framework even as divisions force Democrats to hit pause on far-reaching improvements to Medicare. The budget blueprint Biden released Thursday would fulfill a campaign promise to help poor people locked out of Medicaid expansion across the South due to partisan battles, and it would provide low-income seniors and disabled people with more options to stay out of nursing homes by getting support in their own homes. It also calls for 12 months of Medicaid coverage after childbirth for low-income mothers, seen as a major step to address national shortcomings in maternal health that fall disproportionately on Black women. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/29)

Politico: Your Guide To The Huge Dem Deal: 14 New Policies And What Could Stop Them 
The White House debuted a framework Thursday for the grand social spending deal that has eluded Democrats for months, answering major questions about what survived the carving knife of the party’s centrists. The outline pegs the final price tag at $1.75 trillion and divulges key details on the majority party’s bid to turn many of President Joe Biden’s campaign-trail promises into law. But the sketch is no substitute for real text of the bill, which is still being finalized. Without that, crucial specifics remain untold and political landmines linger as Democratic leaders pursue the support of every member under the dome. (Emma and Scholtes, 10/28)

CNBC: Paid Leave Advocates Slam Policy Exclusion In Social Spending Bill
President Joe Biden has unveiled the framework for a proposed $1.75 trillion social spending and climate plan. But one key component — paid family and medical leave — has been nixed from the proposal. Biden had called for 12 weeks of paid leave as part of his American Families Plan. In recent days, that was whittled down to four weeks as Democrats tried to reduce the costs of the bill. Talks had also turned to the possibility of just providing paid leave to new parents. (Konish, 10/28)

Politico: Liberals Weigh Their Options: Settle For Half A Loaf, Or Fight 
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand fought to see paid leave included in President Joe Biden’s social spending framework until the ink dried. When her goal fell short, the New York Democrat decided to get pragmatic and back the deal anyway. As a tumultuous 48 hours test the mettle of a Democratic Party that’s yet to fully face the reality of what’s achievable with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) as its deciding votes, Gillibrand thinks the rest of her caucus — from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on down — will join her in the acceptance phase. (Everett and Levine, 10/28)

The Washington Post: Biden Raises The Stakes With The Biggest Gamble Of His Presidency 
President Biden entered a caucus meeting of Democrats on Thursday morning, told them he wanted to speak from the heart, and then made one of the biggest gambles of a career that spans nearly a half century. He put the future of his presidency, and the state of his party, on the line with a major bet that he could persuade a fractious group of Democrats to rally behind him and support a compromise $1.75 trillion social spending plan at the heart of his agenda. (Viser and Sullivan, 10/28)

Politico: How Biden And Bernie Switched Roles On Health Care
One surprising development in the seemingly endless negotiations over President Biden’s Build Back Better Act is that Biden and Sanders have sort of swapped goals, at least for this particular debate over health policy. They are each still on the side of Medicare and Obamacare, respectively. But Biden now is trying harder to expand the number of people who get health care. And Sanders is trying harder to improve coverage for people who already have it. (Kenen, 10/28)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Biden Social-Spending ‘Framework’ Pulls Back On Key Health Pledges 
President Joe Biden unveiled a purported compromise on his social-spending plan shortly before taking off for a series of meetings in Europe. But it remains unclear whether the proposal — which jettisons some of the president’s health priorities — will win the support of enough Democrats to push it over the finish line. (10/28)