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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 | Presented by |  | | | With Alice Miranda Ollstein 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.
| | | — Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden’s nominee for HHS Secretary, faces his last big test: a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. — Republicans are uniting against Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid aid bill — and betting voters won't make them pay for that choice. — Biden is adding a former Trump-era health official to his Covid response effort. WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE — where there are plenty of unfortunate tattoos out there, but none that can top this Covid-era ink. Tips to acancryn@politico.com. | | | | A message from PhRMA: As we usher in a new administration and Congress, there are many things on which we can all agree, like building a more just, equitable society. We must address systemic racism, and the biopharmaceutical industry remains committed to this important issue on behalf of our communities, the patients we serve and our employees. | | | | | | ROUND TWO FOR XAVIER BECERRA — Senate Finance Committee Republicans are expected to double down on their criticism of Becerra’s support for abortion rights and “Medicare for All” today, as well as dig into his defense of California’s pandemic restrictions. But it will likely take new revelations or a serious slip-up to jeopardize Becerra’s HHS bid. Republicans on Tuesday struggled to dent his candidacy at a Senate HELP Committee hearing, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports, allowing Becerra to spend much of the session emphasizing his personal experience with the health care system and his professional track record. At multiple points, Republican senators indicated they expected him to be confirmed, with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) referring to HHS career workers as “your staff.” Senate Finance, though, which is responsible for voting on whether to advance Becerra’s nomination to the Senate floor, could go much tougher on him. And he’s so far not expected to have won significant GOP support, with senators including Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mitt Romney of Utah expressing reservations about his stance on abortion. Yet while Democrats are still struggling to salvage the nomination of Neera Tanden for OMB director, there are no signs of similar concerns when it comes to Becerra. “They’ve done their best to try to find something that could stick in terms of their opposition,” Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said, “but there’s really no ‘there’ there.” COVID BILL’s COBRA SUBSIDIES TO FACE GOP CHALLENGE — Republicans will urge the Senate parliamentarian this week to strike a provision subsidizing health coverage for laid-off workers from the Covid aid bill, Hill sources tell POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein and Caitlin Emma. The GOP is planning to argue that the measure’s policy effect eclipses its budget impact, disqualifying it from inclusion under the strict budget reconciliation rules Democrats are relying on to pass the package with just 51 votes. — But Democrats are confident the gambit will fail. “I think they’ll be in the final package,” Wyden said of the COBRA subsidies Monday — a view echoed by outside policy experts, who characterized the expanded federal assistance as a core element of the broader coronavirus aid proposal. REPUBLICANS LINE UP AGAINST COVID AID BILL — With or without the COBRA subsidy provision, don’t expect a lot of surprise Republican ‘yes‘ votes when the $1.9 trillion Covid aid bill finally hits the Senate floor, POLITICO’s Melanie Zanona and Burgess Everett report. — It’s a gamble that comes despite broad public support for more stimulus. The Biden administration has pointed repeatedly to polling showing enthusiasm across partisan lines for funding the vaccine campaign and sending checks to every American. And each of the prior five Covid packages won at least some Republican votes. But GOP lawmakers across Capitol Hill have balked at the bill’s total cost, and argued that voters will ultimately penalize Biden for jamming it through with only 51 Senate votes rather than negotiating a compromise. — The bill also represents a chance for Republicans to rally against the Biden agenda, a potentially unifying cause that may help paper over the GOP’s deep divisions as it tries to chart a post-Trump future.
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| | | BIDEN ADDS COVID VACCINE CONSULTANT — Former senior FDA official Lauren Silvis has joined Biden’s Covid response team as a consultant focused on vaccine issues, an HHS official confirmed. Silvis will work closely with chief science officer David Kessler, who has led the effort to ramp up vaccine manufacturing and manage the production of hundreds of millions of shots over the next several months, a person familiar with the arrangement said. BioCentury first reported the appointment. Silvis previously spent four years at the FDA, including as chief of staff to former President Donald Trump’s first FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb. Gottlieb in a pair of tweets praised Silvis as “deeply committed to the agency’s public health mission” and credited her with helping advance a range of drug and medical device initiatives. | | | |   | | | | | | STEPHEN HAHN JOINS DRUG COMPANY’s BOARD — The former FDA commissioner will be a director at Philadelphia-based Blackfynn, making him among the first high-ranking Trump health officials to land a private-sector role since Biden’s inauguration. Blackfynn, which develops treatments for Parkinson’s and other degenerative nerve diseases, was founded by a group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, where Hahn spent more than a decade as a radiation oncologist. — Hahn has remained largely silent since leaving government, following a yearlong tenure atop the FDA defined by his agency’s battles with the White House over Trump’s efforts to fast-track Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics prior to the election. In its announcement, Blackfynn touted his role in leading the FDA’s authorization of two Covid vaccines amid “an extremely challenging political environment.” Hahn also cited the pandemic as factoring into his first post-FDA move, telling PULSE the crisis has highlighted "how important the private sector is to medical product innovation." | | | FIRST IN PULSE: HEALTH GROUPS HIGHLIGHT PANDEMIC’s TOLL ON CHILDREN — The Children’s Hospital Association and American Academy of Pediatrics is launching a campaign aimed at raising awareness of the pandemic’s impact on children’s mental and behavioral health. The effort — which a person familiar said has an estimated six-figure budget — will seek new federal funding for a range of children’s health initiatives, including bolstering crisis response training, school-based services and outpatient programs and primary and telehealth availability. Hospitalizations at children’s hospitals related to suicide attempts rose nearly 20 percent this past summer, while disruptive behavior disorders jumped more than 40 percent, according to the CHA and AAP. That’s accelerated a pre-existing trend, they argue, as hospitalizations and emergency room visits for suicide attempts doubled at children’s hospitals from 2008 to 2015.
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| | | VACCINE EDUCATION PROJECT ROLLS OUT AWARENESS CAMPAIGN — The Covid-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project, the Pfizer-funded venture launched late last year to promote vaccines, is launching a new effort to build confidence in the shots. The “Count Me In” campaign will run across a series of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. More than 150 organizations, including the Alliance for Aging Research, Justice in Aging and Research!America, are participating in the project. | | | | A message from PhRMA: Despite our divisions, there are many things on which Americans agree. The biopharmaceutical industry is committed to working with Congress and the new administration to:
• End the pandemic. The industry remains committed to getting COVID-19 treatments and vaccines to patients, and we are working closely with governments, insurers and others to make sure they are accessible and affordable.
• Make health care better and more affordable. People want quality, affordable health coverage that works when they need it. We support solutions that will help patients better afford their medicines and protect access to innovation today and in the future.
• Build a more just, equitable society. We must address systemic racism, as has been made clear by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others and the outsized impact of the pandemic on Black and Brown communities. We remain committed to this important issue on behalf of our communities, the patients we serve and our employees. | | | | | | JENNI MUNS joins Medicaid Health Plans of America. Muns will be the organization’s associate director of communications and media relations. She was previously the press secretary for Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.),, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee. | | | In The Atlantic, Alexis C. Madrigal poses a simple question with a complicated answer: When will we know the pandemic is over? States should prioritize vaccinating the homeless, physician Brian Klausner argues in USA Today. Twelve percent more Black and Hispanic people died from non-Covid causes in 2020 than in 2019, compared with 4 percent more white people — a sign of the ripple effect the pandemic has had in delaying unrelated health care, Bloomberg’s Emma Court reports. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
