Medicaid, Drug-Pricing Measures To Be Added To Sweeping Stimulus Bill
House Democrats are inserting major changes to Medicaid into the large relief proposal advancing through Congress that would include more money for states and a controversial drug-pricing policy.
Bloomberg:
House Plans Medicaid, Drug Price Reforms: Stimulus Update
Major changes to Medicaid are included in the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s stimulus proposal. State and local governments will receive $350 billion in aid, according to a draft of a stimulus bill. House Democrats have budgeted for commodity purchases to help U.S. farms. President Joe Biden backed a proposal for quicker phase-outs of planned $1,400 stimulus checks. House and Senate Democrats are clashing on the design of expanded support for the unemployed, an early sign of the intra-party squabbling in the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill in the coming weeks. The debate comes as the House continues to release elements of the bill. A dozen different House committees are working on the specific components of Biden’s plan and releasing their portions as they go along. (2/9)
Stat:
House Democrats Slip Drug-Pricing Proposal Into Covid-19 Relief Bill
House Democrats are expected to insert a controversial Medicaid drug pricing policy into a fast-moving Covid-19 relief bill, several health care lobbyists and a congressional aide briefed on the package told STAT. The policy aims to help states recoup some of the costs they incur in their Medicaid programs when drug makers hike the prices of certain drugs. (Cohrs, 2/9)
In updates on stimulus checks —
The Hill:
Biden Backs House Democrats' Proposed Threshold For COVID-19 Checks
President Biden said Tuesday he agrees with a proposal from House Democrats to begin phasing out the next round of direct coronavirus relief payments to Americans who make more than $75,000, a key sticking point among some in the party. (Samuels, 2/9)
The Washington Post:
Jamie Dimon, Other CEOs Meet With President Biden At White House As Relief Plan Advances
President Biden met at the White House on Tuesday with JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon and other leading business executives to discuss the administration’s $1.9 trillion economic relief package, as Democrats work to speed the plan through Congress. The meeting also included Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart; Sonia Syngal, chief executive of Gap; Marvin Ellison, chief executive of Lowe’s; and Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Vice President Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also took part. (Stein and Werner, 2/9)
In news about abortion —
The Hill:
Democrats Urge Biden FDA To Drop In-Person Rule For Abortion Pill
A group of House Democrats pressed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Tuesday to lift “medically unnecessary” restriction on the abortion pill that have been in place for several years. Under the FDA rule, mifepristone, which is used to end early pregnancies and treat early pregnancy loss, can only be dispensed in person, a requirement that has received renewed criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Hellmann, 2/9)
Politico:
Democratic Lawmakers Push FDA To Lift Restrictions On Abortion Pill
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are asking the Food and Drug Administration to lift rules requiring people seeking medication abortion to obtain pills in-person, citing pandemic-related health risks. Democratic women on the watchdog panel, in a letter to acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock that was first shared with POLITICO, said the agency must "immediately eliminate the medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone," referring to one of two drugs used in medication abortions. (Ollstein, 2/9)
In other congressional news —
The Washington Post:
Lawmakers Urge Biden To Back Opioid-Treatment Measure
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling on President Biden to let more physicians prescribe an opioid-treatment drug, in what has emerged as an early test of his administration’s opioid strategy. The effort centers on the “X-waiver,” a two-decade-old requirement, first mandated by Congress, that physicians undergo a day’s training before being allowed to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid-use disorder. (Diamond, 2/9)
The Hill:
Advocacy Group Launches Campaign To Press Congress On Paid Family Leave
A national advocacy group is putting six figures behind a new ad campaign pressuring Congress to include paid family and sick leave in the COVID-19 relief package. The ad from PL+US, which will run in Washington, D.C., during MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and CNN’s “The Situation Room,” features emotional testimony from paid family leave advocate Mai Ton recounting her personal experience of having a newborn child at a time when her father was dying. (Easley, 2/9)
