Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
In Midst Of Raucous Debate Over 340B Drug Discount Program, Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Address Concerns
Stat: A Bill Would Keep Status Quo Of Contentious Hospital Drug-Discount Program
Amid ongoing debate over a drug discount program for safety-net hospitals, a lawmaker introduced a bill that would memorialize the intent of the controversial program and require the Trump administration to implement oft-delayed regulations about pricing and penalties. The bill arrives as Congress hashes out oversight of the 340B program, which was created in 1992 and requires drug makers to offer discounts of up to 50 percent on all outpatient drugs — for everything from AIDS to diabetes — to hospitals and clinics that serve indigent populations. There are currently more than 12,400 such providers, according to the Human Resources and Services Administration. (Silverman, 6/13)
CQ: House Labor-HHS-Education Bill To Grab More CHIP Cash
House Republicans are set to tap unused Children's Health Insurance Program funding once again, this time to offset spending in the draft fiscal 2019 Labor-HHS-Education bill the House Appropriations Committee plans to release Thursday, according to an aide familiar with the plans. It wasn't clear Wednesday how much of a raid on CHIP was in the offing, but appropriators have been told there is about $18 billion left in the program that is not likely to be spent. Thus even if the Senate passes the House's separate rescissions package (HR 3), which cuts $7 billion from CHIP, there appears to be plenty to go around to backfill Labor-HHS-Education accounts that otherwise might face cuts to keep the draft bill within its $177.1 billion fiscal 2019 discretionary spending allocation. (Mejdrich, 6/13)
CQ: House Panel Advances Indian Health Bill
The House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would grant the Indian Health Service greater authority to hire and fire employees. While the bill (HR 5874) is sponsored exclusively by Republicans, it was reported by voice vote and the committee’s top Democrat, Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, praised aspects of it, especially those aimed at recruiting medical professionals. (Siddons, 6/13)
The Associated Press: A Year After Shooting, GOP Lawmakers Hold Firm On Gun Rights
In the year since House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others were shot at a congressional baseball practice, mass shootings have occurred at a Texas church, a Las Vegas music festival and high schools in Parkland, Florida, and Santa Fe, Texas. Ohio Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a doctor who helped save Scalise's life last June, has watched those attacks unfold with the acute sensitivity of a mass shooting survivor. Each shooting is jarring, says Wenstrup — calling the Parkland shooting in particular sickening — but his views on gun control have not changed. (6/13)
Politico Pro: Wanted: Doctors In Congress
Doctors want more of their own to serve in Congress. But despite near-constant national debates over Obamacare, drug costs and how Medicare reimburses physicians, they're not having much luck. (Pittman, 6/12)
