Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
2 Vaccine Critics Are Top Contenders To Replace Cassidy As Senate HELP Chairman
MedPage Today: Who Will Replace Cassidy On The Senate's Health Committee?
Two physician senators -- Sen. Rand Paul, MD, (R-Ky.) and Sen. Roger Marshall, MD, (R-Kan.) -- are among the leading contenders to take over Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, (R-La.)'s role as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee after his primary loss. Paul is the next Republican in line for the position, though it's worth watching to see if he instead opts to stay on in his role as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, as reported by Axios. ... But Politico has reported that Marshall, a big fan of Kennedy, is angling to become chair of the HELP committee. (Henderson, 5/19)
Axios: Cassidy Defeat May Complicate Filling Health Vacancies
Senate health committee chair Bill Cassidy's defeat in Louisiana's GOP primary on Saturday could complicate Trump administration's efforts to fill top positions at the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the surgeon general post. (Bettelheim, 5/18)
More from Capitol Hill on Medicare and psychedelics —
Stat: Senate Democrats Push For First New Medicare Benefit In Decades
A group of Senate Democrats is proposing that Medicare cover in-home care, which would create the first new benefit in the program since the Part D retail drug benefit more than 20 years ago. (Wilkerson, 5/20)
The Hill: Rep. Jack Bergman Pushes For Psychedelic Treatment Research Breakthroughs
Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) said on Tuesday that “the time is now” to push for breakthroughs in psychedelic treatments given President Trump’s recent support for this field of research. At The Hill’s “Rethinking Psychedelic Treatment for America’s Mental Health Crisis” event sponsored by Definium Therapeutics, Bergman, co-founder and co-chair of Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus, said he was “excited” that an executive order issued last month is encouraging more people to take the “risk” in researching psychedelic drugs. (Choi, 5/19)
The Baltimore Sun: Psychedelics Could Aid Veterans Suffering Anxiety, Depression
Federal regulators fast-tracked approval of psychedelic drugs to treat some of the nation’s most stubborn mental health disorders, reopening a debate that has lingered since the counterculture era: Are hallucinogens dangerous drugs of abuse, breakthrough medicines, or both? (Hille, 5/20)
