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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 Rachel Roubein, Alice Miranda Ollstein and Susannah Luthi 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 U.S. suffered its deadliest year in recorded history in 2020, with fatalities fueled in large part by the coronavirus pandemic. — President Joe Biden is planning a primetime speech to both acknowledge the pandemic's ongoing toll and promise an eventual return to normalcy. — The Biden administration is relaxing Covid restrictions on nursing homes, citing rising vaccination rates. WELCOME TO THURSDAY PULSE — where it's been a year since the moment that convinced many of us the world was in trouble: Actor Tom Hanks announced he'd contracted Covid-19. Send your tips and pandemic turning points 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 ending the pandemic. America’s biopharmaceutical companies will continue to develop treatments and vaccines to combat COVID-19, and we are working closely with governments, insurers and others to make sure vaccines and treatments are accessible and affordable. | | | | | | THE DEADLIEST YEAR IN US HISTORY — More than 3 million people across the nation died last year in all, POLITICO’s Erin Banco reports — a 15 percent increase in fatalities compared to the prior year, according to a CDC report to be released soon. That’s the largest increase in a single year since 1918, when hundreds of thousands of people died in a flu pandemic and the U.S. was fighting in World War I. — Covid, unsurprisingly, was a key force behind the spike. The disease trailed only heart disease and cancer as the top causes of death in 2020, replacing accidental injuries as the third-leading cause. The CDC as part of its yet-to-be-published analysis will also detail death rates among people of different racial and ethnic groups, as the agency tries to demonstrate what it’s doing to better understand how the virus has affected communities of color. — The report will be the CDC’s first public acknowledgment of the rising death rate. It’s the first in a series of planned reports focusing on Covid deaths, which includes ongoing work to analyze the hundreds of thousands of “excess deaths” that occurred last year. HALFWAY THROUGH THE FIRST 100 DAYS — Biden’s remarks memorializing the one-year anniversary of Covid-19’s designation as a pandemic will also serve as both an opportunity to tout his administration’s early accomplishments 50 days into his term. — The address, scheduled for 8:02 p.m., is not expected to run longer than 20 minutes. Biden is likely to emphasize his success in securing enough vaccines for every American and ramping up distribution of the shots — efforts that began during the Trump era, but which the current administration has significantly accelerated. He’ll also have two recent wins to plug: a recent manufacturing deal to speed production of Johnson & Johnson vaccines, and Wednesday’s narrow passage of a $1.9 trillion relief package aimed at bolstering the Covid response while also financing a massive expansion of Obamacare coverage and federal safety net programs. — The speech will also kick off the second leg of Biden’s Covid response. The White House is expected to soon begin its push for yet another massive stimulus bill, this time focused on infrastructure — something Biden has pitched as key to ensuring the nation's economic recovery, though it could face resistance from Republicans and moderate Democrats wary of spending even more. Biden will also need to manage a vaccination campaign that could face new challenges in distributing a growing supply of shots and reaching vaccine-hesitant populations. Also on Biden’s growing list of health care priorities: confirming his HHS secretary nominee, Xavier Becerra; staffing up the rest of the sprawling health department; addressing a growing migrant crisis at the southern border; and laying out the non-Covid parts of his health care agenda — including how aggressively to pursue a drug pricing crackdown. FORMER PRESIDENTS HEADLINE VACCINE AD — The Ad Council’s new national vaccine spot features former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter urging Americans to get their Covid shots. It’s the latest major effort to win over vaccine skeptics and play up the vaccines as the path out of the pandemic. Notably absent from the ad: former President Donald Trump. BIDEN EASES NURSING HOME VISITATION RULES — Citing the progress of its vaccination effort and the emotional toll of isolation on residents over the past year, CMS released new guidance allowing nursing home residents to visit indoors with loved ones, POLITICO’s Rachel Roubein reports. The recommendations, developed in coordination with CDC, does still note that outdoor visitations remain “preferred.” But the loosened guidelines apply to all residents, regardless of vaccination status, and specify that visitation doesn’t need to be restricted for all residents if Covid spread can be contained to a single wing of the facility. Residents who are fully vaccinated, the guidelines say, can have close contact with visitors, such as hugs, while both people wear masks. — The nursing home industry cheered the recommendations, which come nearly a year after CMS directed nursing homes to restrict visitors amid the pandemic’s initial explosion. | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO “THE RECAST” TO JOIN AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION: Power dynamics are changing. “Influence” is changing. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. “The Recast” is our new twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy and power in America. And POLITICO is recasting how we report on this crucial intersection, bringing you fresh insights, scoops, dispatches from across the country and new voices that challenge “business as usual.” Don’t miss out on this important new newsletter, SUBSCRIBE NOW. Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | | | | TEXAS CAN DROP PLANNED PARENTHOOD FROM MEDICAID — A state judge paved the way for Texas to banish Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program, in a ruling that could force roughly 8,000 low-income people to find a new source of care, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. Judge Lora Livingston made the decision even as she expressed reservations over kicking a health care provider like Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid during a pandemic. She ultimately sided with Texas on procedural grounds, concluding that Planned Parenthood had missed the window for challenging the state’s plans. — The ruling is a coda on a yearslong legal battle. Federal appeals courts have split on whether states can exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, but it’s unclear if the Supreme Court will weigh in. The court passed last year on a chance to review a similar effort in South Carolina. Planned Parenthood, in the meantime, has vowed to keep fighting the ruling in court, while also lobbying the Biden administration to intervene. | | | |   | | | | | | BECERRA’s NOMINATION GETS SENATE PROCEDURAL VOTE — The Senate will take a procedural vote today on Becerra’s nomination to run HHS, ahead of a final confirmation vote expected next week, Alice reports. The procedural step is necessary because the Senate Finance Committee deadlocked on Becerra’s nomination along party lines, meaning his candidacy was not favorably reported out of the committee and forcing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring it to the floor for a vote. Schumer on Wednesday criticized the GOP opposition to Becerra’s nomination as “confounding.” But so far, no Republican senators have publicly committed to voting in favor of Biden’s HHS nominee. — Two other Senate votes are also on tap. The HELP Committee will meet March 17 to consider advancing the nominations of Vivek Murthy as Biden’s surgeon general and Rachel Levine as assistant secretary for health. | | | RED STATES TAKE UP TRUMP’s PUBLIC CHARGE DEFENSE — GOP-led states are stepping in to defend the Trump administration’s “public charge” policy allowing officials to deny green cards to legal immigrants who relied on – or were deemed likely to rely on – federal assistance programs, POLITICO’s Susannah Luthi reports. The states’ intervention in the legal battle over the rule comes after the Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit against the policy at the request of the Biden administration, which is planning to unwind it. Arizona, Indiana, Texas and Arkansas are among those intervening, arguing that the rule would deprive states of an estimated $1 billion in total savings. — Red states seek intervention in Title X case. A coalition has also asked the Supreme Court to intervene on behalf of Trump’s overhaul of the Title X family planning program, in anticipation of the Biden administration’s rollback of the rules cutting funding to Planned Parenthood and other clinics that perform abortions. CDC’s PANDEMIC EVICTION MORATORIUM STRUCK DOWN — A federal judge in Ohio has ruled against the CDC’s freeze on rental evictions, finding in favor of landlords and property management groups who challenged the move, Susannah writes. It’s the fourth decision stemming from lawsuits over the moratorium put in place during the pandemic, which was already scheduled to expire at the end of the month. Two have now gone in favor of the CDC, and two have gone in favor of landlords. In this latest ruling, the Ohio judge noted that Congress’ $.19 trillion aid package passed Wednesday failed to address the eviction freeze — despite other provisions in the bill that would send more relief to renters. | | | | 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. | | | | | | FIRST IN PULSE: ADVOCACY GROUPS SEEK FTC INSULIN PROBE — A coalition of advocacy organizations is petitioning the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation of insulin manufacturers, arguing that rising prices for the drug “may be largely attributable to a hyper-consolidated industry.” In a letter, the group, Investigate Insulin Now, urged the FTC to either investigate whether the insulin industry has effectively become a cartel or conduct a study of its market structure that would be made public. “Specifically, we hope the FTC will focus on widespread allegations of anticompetitive behavior and collusion between insulin manufacturers to maintain monopoly prices and block potential competitors,” the coalition, led by the American Economic Liberties Project, wrote. | | | | FIND OUT THE LATEST WHISPERS FROM THE WEST WING: Add Transition Playbook to your daily reads to find out what's really happening inside the West Wing, who really has the president's ear, and get the latest scoop from inside cabinet departments and agencies. Track the people, policies and emerging power centers of the Biden administration. Don’t miss out. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | The government is holding unaccompanied immigrant minors in detention cells far longer than legally allowed, The Washington Post’s Nick Miroff reports. In STAT, nine pandemic experts recall when they first realized how bad the coronavirus pandemic would become. From corona-utopia to a vaccine apartheid, POLITICO Europe’s Sarah Wheaton describes the world’s six potential post-pandemic futures. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
