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Presented by PhRMA: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy. | | | | | |  | | By Adam Cancryn and Sarah Owermohle | | | Editor’s Note: POLITICO Pulse is a free version of POLITICO Pro Health Care's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our s each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day’s biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro. | | | — The FDA authorized Covid-19 booster shots for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients, while also clearing the way for a "mix-and-match" approach. — Democrats are weighing turning a price proposal expanding Medicare dental benefits into a cheaper voucher program. — NIH Director Francis Collins criticized the "misinformation" surrounding Covid-19's origins, reiterating that it has no link to government-funded research. WELCOME TO THURSDAY PULSE — and pick it up on the vaccination rate, Scorpios. Send tips and horoscopes to acancryn@politico.com and sowermohle@politico.com | | | | A message from PhRMA: Some in Congress are considering a plan that would tie medicine prices in Medicare to those in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This misguided approach is just the latest in a series of government price-setting proposals that threaten patients’ access to medicines and future innovation. Read the five reasons tying Medicare Part D prices to the VA misses the mark. | | | | | | FDA GREENLIGHTS MODERNA, J&J BOOSTERS — The agency authorized Covid-19 boosters of Moderna’s and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines, in a long-awaited move that will make millions more Americans eligible for the additional shots. The Wednesday announcement sets the stage for a major expansion of the Biden administration’s booster campaign this fall, POLITICO’s Lauren Gardner reports. Moderna recipients would be eligible for a third shot if they’re 65 and older, or 18–64 and at high risk of severe Covid-19 or at risk of frequent exposure to the virus. That’s similar to the guidance FDA issued for Pfizer-BioNTech’s booster last month. J&J, of course, will be different. For those 15 million special Americans (including your PULSE authors), all recipients at least two months past their initial shot can get a booster — a recognition of the vaccine’s lower efficacy compared to the other vaccines. But wait! There’s more. The FDA will also allow people to receive a booster that’s a different brand than their initial shots were. That means J&J recipients, for example, could seek out a booster of Moderna’s or Pfizer’s vaccines. The mix-and-match approach was authorized after initial research showed those who received J&J might get more benefit from a Moderna or Pfizer shot than a second dose of the J&J vaccine. What’s next: The FDA authorizations come ahead of an all-day meeting of the CDC’s advisory committee, which will take up the discussion on how to distribute the boosters — including additional guidance for public and health care workers. It’s also set to discuss the FDA’s decision to permit a mix-and-match approach. | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | DEMS FLOAT DENTAL VOUCHERS FOR MEDICARE ENROLLEES — Congressional Democrats are exploring turning a planned extension of Medicare dental benefits into a voucher program, as they search for ways to slash their social spending bill’s overall cost. President Joe Biden and House progressives discussed the idea during a meeting earlier this week, with Biden pitching it as a way to get dental coverage to Medicare beneficiaries sooner, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. It’s not the first time vouchers have come up. Democrats previously discussed such a system as a bridge to help older adults before a full dental benefit kicked in down the road. But the White House has since sought to shave hundreds of billions of dollars off the package’s top line, and a full dental benefit would be particularly expensive. Progressives aren’t sold on the prospect, and are still pushing for a full benefit alongside plans to extend vision and hearing coverage to traditional Medicare plans. But Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) — who was part of the White House meeting — allowed that it could end up a preferable alternative to cutting the dental provision altogether. Meanwhile: Democrats are making their peace with a smaller bill. After Biden signaled the package would be closer to $2 trillion, party leaders expressed optimism they could reach an agreement as soon as the end of the week. That requires first deciding what priorities will make it into the bill. Yet even so, senior Democrats are pressuring rank-and-file members to get on board with a slimmed-down proposal in hopes of securing a long-sought win that could buoy Biden’s domestic agenda. The biggest unknown is when Sens. Joe Manchin (D.-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) will jump aboard. Sinema appeared to throw yet another wrench in the process Wednesday, opposing tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations originally seen as critical to helping pay for the overall package. NIH CHIEF DECRIES COVID ORIGINS MISINFO — Francis Collins is attempting to tamp down conspiracy theories surrounding Covid-19’s origins, asserting Wednesday that government-funded research could not have sparked the pandemic. Collins said U.S. intelligence agencies concluded the coronavirus was not developed as a biological weapon — nor was it engineered, Sarah reports. The NIH had funded research conducted by EcoHealth Alliance at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that studies how coronaviruses jump from bats to humans. But there’s no link between that work and Covid-19. “Any claims to the contrary are demonstrably false,” Collins said, criticizing the “misinformation and disinformation” that’s circulated in the absence of a clear answer about the virus’ origins. The EcoHealth conspiracy dates back to April 2020 when the Trump administration pulled its funding amid theories the virus escaped from a lab — a possibility that has yet to be definitively proven or ruled out. | | | |   | | | | | | US HITS 200M DOSES DONATED — The U.S. has now delivered 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to countries around the world, the White House announced. Those donations have gone to more than 100 different countries, as the administration tries to fulfill its pledge to lead the global pandemic fight. The sum amounts to just a portion of the 1 billion doses that Biden has vowed to eventually deliver through donations to individual nations and through COVAX, in an effort to tamp down cases across the world’s neediest countries. HOW COVID IS RESHAPING CITIES — When Covid-19 arrived in the U.S., it shuttered economies and disrupted Americans’ way of life. Yet even as the nation attempts a return to some sort of normal, the virus is still reshaping where and how we work and live in myriad ways, Eric Scigliano writes in the latest edition of POLITICO’s Recovery Lab series. Metropolitan areas in some parts of the country tallied continued population gains, while other postindustrial cities kept losing their inhabitants. Others in shrinking or slow-growth cities delayed moving plans. Those differing reactions to the crisis ended up evening out nationally; 35 million people filed address changes in 2020, about the same number as each of the previous two years. Yet bigger cities have been another story, suffering rapid out-migration as offices shut down and remote work fired up, which has yet to show signs of a reversal. That’s made the suburbs “hot again,” in a return to a pre-millenium pattern that saw younger people move out of cities as they grew older. | | | | BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | | FIRST IN PULSE: ADDICTION TREATMENT GROUPS BACK PAID LEAVE PLAN — A coalition of addiction treatment organizations is calling on Democrats to preserve national paid leave as part of their social spending bill, arguing it would make it easier for people to seek treatment. “Many working people, especially with low income, cannot access substance use disorder treatment simply because it requires time off from work,” said Christa Butts, director of public policy for the National Association of Social Workers. The group, which includes several West Virginia treatment organizations, also noted in its letter that efforts to combat the opioid epidemic have long been a top priority for Sen. Joe Manchin. Manchin has demanded that the bill’s size and scope be reduced to win his vote, though he’s yet to weigh in definitively on the prospect of including paid leave. | | | Brad Smith, a former Trump-era director of CMS’ Innovation Center, is joining CareBridge Health as executive chairman. He’s also the founder of Russell Street Ventures. HHS is adding Joanne Pike to its National Alzheimer’s Project Act Advisory Council. Pike is the chief strategy officer of the Alzheimer’s Association. | | | The single copy of a Wu-Tang Clan album once owned by Martin Shkreli has a new owner: A collective that acquires “digital culture,” which paid $4 million for the privilege, The New York Times’ Ben Sisario reports. Scientists are still searching for what is causing a rare Covid-linked inflammation in children, Kaiser Health News’ Liz Szabo reports. New research indicates the sex of a fetus influences how the pregnant mother responds to Covid-19 infection, STAT’s Megan Molteni writes. | | | | A message from PhRMA: Some in Congress are considering a plan that would tie medicine prices in Medicare to those in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This misguided approach is just the latest in a series of government price-setting proposals that threaten patients’ access to medicines and future innovation.
Here are five reasons why the VA is a wrong model for Medicare:
1. Unlike Medicare Part D, the VA uses a one-size-fits-all system that restricts access to medicines.
2. The majority of VA beneficiaries rely on other sources to help supplement their drug coverage, including Medicare Part D.
3. The VA relies on quality-adjusted life year (QALY)-based assessments to set prices for medicines.
4. Imposing the VA system on Medicare is wildly unpopular with seniors.
5. Comparisons between Medicare Part D and the VA fail to acknowledge inherent structural distinctions between the two programs.
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