Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
House Next To Take Up Senate-Passed Health, Climate And Tax Bill
Politico: Senate Dems Pass Long-Awaited Climate, Tax And Health Care Bill
Senate Democrats passed their signature climate, tax and health care package Sunday afternoon, handing a long-sought victory to President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer even as the bill hit some last-minute snags. In a 51-50 vote, Senate Democrats approved their party-line package after an amendment process that spanned more than 15 hours. Democrats fought off most GOP efforts to change their fragile deal but did make a change just before the bill’s final passage that adjusted the corporate minimum tax provisions. (Levine, Everett and Carney, 8/7)
The Wall Street Journal: Senate Passes Democrats’ Climate, Healthcare And Tax Bill
The bill’s prescription drug plan would for the first time empower Medicare to negotiate the prices of a limited set of drugs selected from among those that account for the biggest share of government expenditures, long a goal for lawmakers. It would also cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000 a year beginning in 2025, and starting next year mandate free vaccines for Medicare enrollees. It would cap insulin costs for Medicare patients at $35 a month starting next year. Subsidies for purchasing health insurance through the ACA, which Democrats passed into law in 2021, would continue through 2025, under the bill, an extension that will cost $64 billion. (Duehren and Hughes, 8/7)
Stat: In A Huge Victory For Dems, Medicare Poised To Negotiate Drug Prices
The reform is a stunning defeat for the pharmaceutical industry, which has invested a staggering amount of money to get its way in Washington, and which launched a seven-figure campaign last month to try to stop this effort. Allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices has been the sector’s third rail for two decades. While drugmakers’ influence watered down the proposal, even the good will they earned after developing highly effective vaccines to treat Covid-19 wasn’t enough to stop it. Implementing Medicare’s new negotiating power will be a contentious experiment. Drugmakers have tremendous resources to deploy and three years before any of the provisions would take effect — time they can use to try to bend the regulatory process to their will. How the new policy will change the complex dynamic of investors’ decisions, pharmaceutical companies’ calculations, and the outlook for generic drugs is still unclear. (Cohrs, 8/7)
USA Today: Senate OKs Sweeping Bill Lowering Drug Prices And Promoting Clean Energy, Setting Up Major Biden Win
The bill didn't pass unscathed: Republicans stripped a $35 monthly cap on insulin co-pays via amendment, arguing the provision violated procedural rules. Seven Republicans sided with Democrats to try to keep the measure in place: Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Dan Sullivan of Alaska. Democrats lowered the cost of insulin through Medicare in the bill, as Republicans' amendment targeted only the cap on insulin co-pays for private insurers. (Wells, Garrison, Swartz and Tran, 8/7)
The specifics of the bill —
The New York Times: What’s In The Climate, Tax And Health Care Bill
The legislation, while falling far short of the ambitious $2.2 trillion Build Back Better Act that the House passed in November, fulfills multiple longstanding Democratic goals, including countering the toll of climate change on a rapidly warming planet, taking steps to lower the cost of prescription drugs and to revamping portions of the tax code in a bid to make it more equitable. Here’s what’s in the final package. (Cochrane and Friedman, 8/7)
AP: A Look At What Is, And Isn't, Included In The Senate's Big Bill
Launching a long-sought goal, the bill would allow the Medicare program to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, saving the federal government some $288 billion over the 10-year budget window. Those new revenues would be put back into lower costs for seniors on medications, including a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for older adults buying prescriptions from pharmacies. The money would also be used to provide free vaccinations for seniors, who now are among the few not guaranteed free access, according to a summary document. (Mascaro, 8/7)
What happened behind the scenes —
Politico: The Sinema-Manchin Split That Shaped Dems’ Deal
Sunday’s passage of the legislation marked a triumphant moment for a party that for years has talked a big game on lowering drug prices and fighting climate change. (Everett and Levine, 8/7)
