Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lobbyists Spend Big To Push Changes In Drug Pricing Legislation
Prescription Drug Watch: For more news on rising drug costs, check out our weekly roundup of news coverage and perspectives of the issue.
Roll Call: Lobbyists, Advocates Seek To Revise Budget Bill’s Drug Price Changes
Lobbyists and advocates are pressing for a number of changes to a drug pricing overhaul as the focus on a $1.75 trillion budget bill shifts from the House to the Senate. The lobbyists are angling for tweaks on everything from the time period of drug exclusivity to the tax treatment of rare disease drugs and provisions affecting the pharmacy benefit managers that manage prescription drugs for insurance companies. (Clason and McIntire, 11/10)
The Washington Post: Pharmaceutical Industry Likely To Shatter Its Lobbying Record As It Works To Shape Democrats’ Spending Bill
The ads targeting Kim and others were one strand of a massive, months-long advertising, lobbying and political donation blitz undertaken by the pharmaceutical industry and its allies, perhaps the strongest of all corporate voices in Washington, to kill a Democratic proposal to lower the cost of prescription drugs by empowering the federal government to negotiate their prices. That provision to control drug prices became a focal point of the $1.75 trillion spending package Democrats are trying to move through Washington. The measure was in, then out, then watered down, going through a fierce ping-pong of backroom negotiations that is likely to continue once the Senate considers the bill in coming weeks. (Torbati and O'Connell, 11/5)
CBS News: Big Pharma Spending $263M To Keep Drug Prices High: "They Have Really Endless Resources"
The pharmaceutical industry has spent nearly $263 million on lobbying so far this year, employing three lobbyists for every member of Congress, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics. Millions of those dollars are in the form of campaign donations. "They have really endless resources to throw at shaping the outcomes of legislation," said Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of OpenSecrets. (Van Cleave, 11/3)
And in Biden administration news on covid —
AP: Biden To Continue FEMA Virus Aid For States Until April 1
President Joe Biden is extending the federal government’s 100% reimbursement of COVID-19 emergency response costs to states, tribes and territories through April 1, 2022, the White House is announcing Tuesday. On a conference call Tuesday morning, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients informed governors that Biden is approving the extension of Federal Emergency Management Agency support to help continue FEMA-backed efforts like vaccination clinics and public education campaigns surrounding the shots. (Miller, 11/9)
Axios: Exclusive: U.S. Will Speed COVID Vaccines To Conflict Zones
The Biden administration is set to announce today that it has brokered a deal to get more doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine into conflict zones around the world, a senior White House official tells Axios. Getting the rest of the world vaccinated will save lives — and reduce the chances of more new variants. (Reed, 11/10)
Also —
Politico: Schumer Scores Billions For New York's Decaying Public Housing
The stakes are high for the 2 million people who reside in 1.2 million public housing units receiving federal funding, with many living in substandard or even dangerous conditions. The cost of the nationwide need for repairs is $81 billion, according to the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. The $65 billion allocation is 63 percent more money than Biden proposed for public housing in the spring. After Biden released a plan with $40 billion for improvements, Schumer vowed in April that it would be among his “No. 1 priorities” to double that figure and direct money to the New York City Housing Authority. (O'Donnell, 11/10)
The Washington Post: Thomas Farley, Former Philadelphia Health Commissioner, Joins D.C. Health Department
Former Philadelphia health commissioner Thomas Farley made national headlines in May when he admitted to ordering the cremation and disposal of human remains that belonged to victims of a 1985 police bombing in West Philadelphia years ago, without notifying their surviving family members. Farley was asked to resign. And even though the Philadelphia Inquirer reported afterward that one of Farley’s subordinates had apparently disobeyed his orders in 2017 and preserved the victims’ remains instead, Farley’s admission still outraged members of the Black radical liberation group MOVE, whose headquarters were targeted in the attack some 36 years ago. (Brice-Sadler and Portnoy, 11/10)
