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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 Tucker Doherty and Krista Mahr | | | With Ben Leonard WELCOME TO TUESDAY PULSE — Following yesterday’s Choco Taco news, readers reached out and told us they miss other discontinued foods like Ben & Jerry’s Aloha Macadamia ice cream and the 7-Layer Burrito at Taco Bell . Tell me how to turn back the hands of time and send me your news tips at tdoherty@politico.com or follow me on Twitter at @tucker_doherty .
| | | | A message from PhRMA: In a moment of political desperation, Democrats are about to make a historic mistake that will devastate patients desperate for new cures. The bill saves the government $300 billion. But just $25 billion will go towards improving the Part D benefit. The rest goes to reducing the deficit and providing a windfall to insurers. Fewer new treatment options is a steep price to pay for a bill that doesn't do enough to make medicines more affordable. | | | | | | | 
Canvassers wait to speak with prospective voters about a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would allow legislators to further restrict or ban abortion. | John Hanna/AP Photo | ABORTION RIGHTS ON THE BALLOT — Primary voters head to the polls today in Kansas, where, among other issues, they’ll decide whether to amend the state constitution to clarify that it does not protect the right to abortion, leaving the decision in the hands of state lawmakers. The referendum marks the first time the question of abortion rights has been put before voters since the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn the precedents established by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Working block by block, hundreds of canvassers, some flown in from across the country, are knocking on hundreds of thousands of doors to remind people of the stakes in today’s referendum — not just for Kansas, but for the country, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports on the ground . Kansas is one of the only states in the region where abortion remains legal and has become a destination for patients from states, particularly Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma, that have implemented near-total bans. Follow the money: Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is spending $1.3 million to air ads, send mailers, fly in and house about 300 volunteers to canvas. Altogether, according to campaign finance disclosures , anti-abortion groups have raised nearly $4.7 million, much of it from the Catholic Church. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom — the umbrella group fighting against the amendment — has raised more than $6.5 million , with the bulk coming from Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups. A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation released today finds that majorities of U.S. adults say they want lawmakers in their own state to pass legislation guaranteeing access to abortion, even in states that have already banned the procedure:
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| Although 55 percent of registered voters polled said the issue of abortion rights would be “very important” in their midterm vote this fall, it still trailed other priorities like inflation, rising gas prices and gun violence. BIPARTISAN ABORTION PROPOSAL IN SENATE — A bipartisan group of senators released legislation Monday that intends to codify Roe v. Wade into law and ensures continued access to contraception, POLITICO’s Anthony Adragna and Marianne LeVine report . The six-page-long piece of legislation is sponsored by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine). The measure would bar states from enacting “undue” limits on the ability to access abortion services before fetal viability while allowing some restrictions on after fetal-viability abortions, as long as they don't affect the mother’s life or health. While the legislation is bipartisan, its path forward is unclear.
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Abortion-rights advocates worry that online data sold by brokers will be used by states criminalizing abortion. | Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images | DATA BROKERS SHRUG OFF PRESSURE — Democratic lawmakers are piling pressure on data brokers to stop collecting information on pregnant people to protect those seeking abortions — but they’re not having much luck, POLITICO’s Alfred Ng reports . For years, brokers have sold datasets on millions of expectant parents from their trimester status to their preferred birth methods. Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, that same data is becoming a political issue, with abortion-rights groups warning that states with abortion bans are likely to weaponize it. In the three months since POLITICO reported the draft opinion against Roe , numerous congressional Democrats have sent letters to data brokers urging them to stop the practice, promised to interrogate the companies about their collections and introduced bills to restrict reproductive health data from being collected and sold. But in the absence of legislation, many brokers aren’t taking heed. POLITICO found more than 30 listings from data brokers offering information on expecting parents or selling access to those people through mass email blasts. Twenty-five of them updated their listings after the Roe ruling on June 24. The risk isn’t hypothetical. Police have used digital evidence such as text messages and search histories in the past to enforce abortion laws. In 2015, Indiana prosecutors used a woman’s online search history as evidence to prove she illegally induced her own abortion. She was convicted of feticide .
| | | | A message from PhRMA: What’s missing from Democrats’ price setting bill? Anything that could stop harmful practices by insurance companies and PBMs. Instead, Congress should :
· Lower coinsurance for seniors in Part D
· Address abusive insurance practices that block access to medicines
· Require middlemen to share the savings directly with patients at the pharmacy | | | | | | CMS PAYMENT RULE FOCUSES ON MATERNAL HEALTH — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday released its final rule setting payment rates in fiscal 2023 for inpatient and long-term care hospitals, which includes new federal equity efforts and standards aimed at improving maternal health outcomes. Under the rule, CMS will establish a new Birthing-Friendly hospital designation for facilities that participate in national or statewide quality collaboratives and implement all recommended interventions. The effort builds on the Biden administration’s Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis released last month, according to the agency. In a statement, the American Hospital Association praised the rule’s boosted payment rates but argued the increase did not go far enough to account for elevated inflation and workforce shortages. FAMILY DOCS ENDORSE PARTS OF MANCHIN-SCHUMER DEAL — A letter to Congress from the American Academy of Family Physicians urges senators to back certain provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, citing the bill’s extension of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits and drug price reforms.
| | | | DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today . | | | | | | | | FLORIDA ASKS STATE MEDICAL BOARD TO BAN TRANSITIONS FOR KIDS — Florida’s health department has asked the state medical board to ban transition-related medical care for children and said the federal government and two medical organizations have created confusion over the issue, POLITICO’s Arek Sarkissian reports. The Florida Department of Health wrote in a petition filed with the state Board of Medicine last week that the agency couldn’t find any evidence indicating that treatments such as surgery and hormone therapy were safe for children under 18 and accused HHS, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society of misleading the public into believing the treatments are safe. The eight-page petition, included in a 1,100-page document , was the latest step taken by the DeSantis administration to block children from undergoing the treatment. What’s next: The Florida Department of Health’s petition is on the agenda for a Florida Board of Medicine meeting for Friday in Fort Lauderdale.
| | | Sarah Arbes is joining AstraZeneca as head of federal affairs and policy. She was most recently VP of federal affairs, alliance development and policy at bluebird bio. She is a Trump and Bush Administration alum. Mackenzie Sumwalt is now strategic adviser for enterprise consulting at Blue Cross NC. She most recently was a strategy consultant at UNC Health.
| | | Physician resident salaries haven’t grown since the beginning of the pandemic, Healthcare Dive’s Hailey Mensik reports. The biopharmaceutical company Amgen is fighting the IRS over its international tax strategy and an alleged $10.7 billion in back taxes, The Wall Street Journal’s Joseph Walker and Richard Rubin report . Over the past decade, the federal government allowed 20 million doses of a vaccine for smallpox and monkeypox to expire, The New York Times’ Joseph Goldstein reports .
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