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| | | — The White House is pushing for a Senate vote on its sweeping infrastructure package in as little as two weeks. — The quick rollout of the coronavirus vaccines this year prevented an estimated 279,000 additional deaths from Covid-19, according to a new study. — House Democrats are releasing a new report focused on the finances of more than a dozen major pharmaceutical companies. WELCOME TO THURSDAY PULSE — where even as life is returning to normal in the U.S., the global Covid-19 toll keeps rising; on Wednesday, deaths from the disease worldwide hit 4 million. What health stories are we missing, Covid or otherwise? Send your thoughts to acancryn@politico.com and sowermohle@politico.com. | | | DEMS PREP FOR A SPENDING PACKAGE SPRINT — The White House wants its bipartisan infrastructure deal on the Senate floor as early as the week of July 19, potentially bringing a quick conclusion to the lengthy negotiations over the spending package. White House legislative officials outlined the timeline on Wednesday to Democrats on Capitol Hill, POLITICO’s Laura Barrón López and Burgess Everett report, giving lawmakers roughly two weeks to finalize what exactly will be in the bill. Democratic leaders have sought to hammer out the details in delicate negotiations complicated by the parallel push for a separate, larger package that would be passed along party lines. But the tentative new deadline signals a fresh sense of urgency to get the infrastructure package moving before the Senate leaves for its August recess. The infrastructure deal is still just a framework, with expectations it will add up to nearly $600 billion in new spending. The group of 20 senators who worked on the agreement has since split into subgroups focused on hashing out various details, with the hope they can put everything into legislative text by next week. Still, significant work remains — most notably, deciding how to ensure new revenue covers the overall bill’s cost. Senate Democrats are also outlining their larger partisan bill. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Budget Committee chair, has pushed for spending as much as $6 trillion in an expansive package that would include a series of major health reforms. But that’s already met resistance from moderate Democrats who prefer a number closer to $2 trillion.
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STUDY: RAPID VACCINE ROLLOUT AVERTED 279K DEATHS — The urgent distribution of Covid-19 vaccines over the first six months of the year helped avert roughly 279,000 deaths and keep 1.25 million people out of the hospital, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study.
The study’s researchers relied on a model that simulated different trajectories for the pandemic, which credited the vaccine push during the Biden administration’s first months with avoiding what would have otherwise been a surge of cases throughout the spring. “If there had been no COVID-19 vaccination program, daily deaths from COVID-19 would have created a second wave,” the researchers wrote, projecting the U.S. could have suffered as many as nearly 4,500 deaths per day by late April. The vaccine rollout instead helped tamp down infections throughout the spring months, as millions of people rushed to get vaccinated. The pace of those vaccinations mattered too, according to the study. At half the daily rate of shots that were ultimately given, the U.S. would have suffered an additional 121,000 deaths. Despite that success, the researchers also warned that the emergence of new, more transmissible variants like Delta mean the nation is far from insulated against another surge. “A renewed commitment to expanding vaccine access will be crucial to achieving higher level of vaccination necessary to control [the] pandemic and prevent avoidable suffering,” they wrote, adding that historically underserved groups remain among the most vulnerable. TODAY: HOUSE DEMS DROP NEW DRUG PRICING REPORT — The House Oversight and Reform Committee is publishing a staff report focused on more than a dozen of the nation’s largest drug companies, amid a renewed push to crack down on the cost of medicines. The report will examine the amount that pharmaceutical companies “enrich investors and executives” as well as how much they invest in research and the development of new treatments, in what’s widely expected to offer an unflattering look at how the drug giants are spending their money. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney are scheduled to unveil the report this afternoon. That’s likely to further fuel House Democrats’ effort to pass a provision that would empower the federal government to negotiate the price of certain drugs — a goal that Biden embraced on the campaign, but has yet to commit to including in his forthcoming spending packages. | | | PRESSURE BUILDS OVER COVID BORDER RESTRICTIONS — Lawmakers are stepping up efforts to loosen Covid-19 restrictions along the U.S.-Canada border, calling on leaders in both countries to make travel easier, POLITICO’s Andy Blatchford reports. A bipartisan group on Wednesday sent a letter to Biden arguing he should take “science-based, data-driven steps” to reopen the U.S. border to international travel — including dropping all restrictions for travelers from Canada who are fully vaccinated or have proof of a negative Covid test. “It is now possible to plan for and begin a safe reopening,” the 75 House members wrote, adding that “guidance from the CDC is clear that fully vaccinated travelers may safely resume travel.” New York Republican Elise Stefanik separately sent letters to each of Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers asking them to support dropping restrictions, she said. The date to watch: July 21, when the U.S. and Canada must decide whether to renew the restrictions for another month. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau two weeks ago called the public health situation “quite encouraging,” and indicated it could be a matter of weeks before the border gradually reopens. | | | VA RECORDS OVERHAUL COST BILLIONS MORE THAN REPORTED — The The VA’s Office of Inspector General found $2.5 billion in additional spending left out of cost estimates presented to Congress for its digital health record revamp, POLITICO’s Darius Tahir reports. The revelation is likely to add to concerns about the mounting price tag for the records project, already projected to cost roughly $16 billion over a decade. In addition to the unreported spending, the inspector general detailed cost estimates for information technology infrastructure that it cautioned were underdeveloped. The VA’s digital health record modernization office has also not coordinated well with other offices within the department, the report said. — That marks the second critical inspector general report in recent months focused on the program’s weak financial controls. Combined, those findings suggest the overhaul could cost nearly $6 billion more than projected. VA Secretary Denis McDonough has insisted the records project will still come in on budget. Its stumbles so far, though, have prompted increasing scrutiny from both parties on Capitol Hill. WATCHDOG: COVID SCHOOL FUNDS NEED BETTER OVERSIGHT — The Education Department isn’t doing all it could to track how billions of dollars in Covid-19 relief funding for schools is being used, the Government Accountability Office said on Wednesday. In a report, the watchdog pointed to four “high-priority” recommendations for the department, POLITICO’s Daniel Payne writes, including having it collect and publicly report when districts and states commit to spending federal funds. Federal officials should then also track when they actually make good on those commitments. Currently, the Education Department only reports when a state requests reimbursements with the funds — which the GAO previously warned gives the government an “incomplete” picture of Covid relief spending.
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| | | Hannah Thomas is now director of member development at the Health Management Academy. She most recently was an account executive at POLITICO. | | | Amazon’s new medical-care service is struggling to convince major health insurers to include it as part of their plans, Business Insider’s Blake Dodge and Shelby Livingston report. A review of prices charged by hundreds of hospitals found that uninsured people are often charged more than insurers for the same service, The Wall Street Journal’s Melanie Evans, Anna Wilde Mathews and Tom McGinty report. A New York Times investigation found dozens of people who died in jail from Covid-19, yet were not included in official counts — raising questions about the true death toll among inmates. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
