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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 Daniel Payne and Krista Mahr | | | With Megan Messerly, Megan R. Wilson and Ben Leonard
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A lawsuit from the anti-abortion legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom targets the FDA’s two-decade-old approval of mifepristone. | Charlie Riedel/ AP Photo | A BIG DECISION ON ABORTION PILLS — A coming court decision could wipe out access to abortion pills, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein and Adam Cancryn report, leading doctors and activists to urge people to pre-order and stockpile the medicine. The case, now before District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, could result in him either striking down the FDA’s decades-old decision to approve mifepristone — the first of two pills used to end a pregnancy — or rolling back more recent agency decisions that make the pills available via telemedicine, mail delivery and pharmacy pickup. Restrictions to the pills aren’t new, with 18 states already limiting them as part of near-total abortion bans. But the ruling could cut off access to the drug in states where it’s available or reinstate rules requiring patients to get them in person from a doctor. Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, previously worked for a conservative group, First Liberty Institute, that brought cases aimed at restricting abortion access. The Biden administration plans to appeal any ruling restricting the drug, but abortion rights advocates are asking for — though not counting on — more to be done, including declaring a public health emergency for abortion. Still, the administration is projecting confidence, with HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra telling reporters last month that he’s “very confident” the court will side with the FDA. Still, the threat to the country’s most-used abortion method — which abortion-rights advocates have said changed the landscape of their work globally — could again reshape the procedure in the U.S. Lawyers for both sides submit their briefs Friday, and a decision could come any time after that. WELCOME TO THURSDAY PULSE. Mosquitos are more than a nuisance for researchers using a vacuum-like “insectazooka” to catch and use the bugs as an indicator of disease in communities. Have interesting research (or a good tip) to share? Drop us a line at dpayne@politico.com and kmahr@politico.com. TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Ruth Reader talks with Alice Miranda Ollstein about the looming court decision that could strike down the FDA’s decades-old approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, which has spurred some doctors and advocates to urge people to pre-order and stockpile abortion pills while they still can.
| | | | | | | A message from PhRMA: In 2021, Insurers and their pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) subjected patients to six times the out-of-pocket costs for brand medicines through the use of deductibles or coinsurance compared to patients with only copays — even when these middlemen received a discounted price. That’s not fair. Learn more. | | | | | | | 
Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) chaired Wednesday's hearing, with some Republicans calling into question the Biden administration's response to the pandemic. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | FACEOFF WITH HEALTH OFFICIALS — A GOP-led hearing Wednesday featuring administration health officials may give insight into what’s to come from a Republican majority in the House, Krista and Alice report. In short, GOP members are ready for payback. They aired grievances over how agencies communicated with them when they were in the minority last year, reminding them they now have subpoena power. But administration officials also used the platform, with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, NIH Acting Director Lawrence Tabak and FDA Commissioner Robert Califf petitioning Congress for increased data-gathering, regulatory and workforce authority and more sustainable funding. Vaccine hesitancy was a key issue in the hearing — particularly, why it’s spreading beyond Covid-19. Administration officials said mis- and disinformation undermine the agency’s efforts to get people vaccinated for Covid and catch children up on their routine vaccinations, especially in rural populations. But some GOP lawmakers blamed the federal government’s actions for the waning coverage. Pandemic policies — and who can set them — were another point of contention. GOP members have long questioned the administration’s ability to unilaterally set pandemic policies, with officials saying it’s key to keeping the country safe. Republicans also used the hearing to question the science of masking, with Walensky defending mask requirements as protective measures. SANDERS PROPOSES ‘HISTORIC’ COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER EXPANSION — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate HELP Committee, announced plans for a “historic” expansion of community health centers during a Tuesday address to members of Advocates for Community Health, a national health center advocacy organization, in Washington, D.C., Megan Messerly reports. Sanders hasn’t said how much he wants to spend on the health center expansion, telling reporters, “I don’t want to get people nervous by telling them what I’m thinking.” But he said he’s “cautiously optimistic that we can do something very, very big.” The American Rescue Plan Act passed by Congress in 2021 provided $7.6 billion in direct funding for community health centers. “I talked to the president a couple of weeks ago. He didn’t mention it last night, but I think his budget will reflect the need to significantly expand funding to the community health centers,” Sanders told reporters. Sanders also called for a “major expansion” of the National Health Service Corps, which provides scholarships and debt forgiveness for health care professionals working in underserved communities.
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | | FLIPPING THE MEDICARE CUTS SCRIPT — Among the biggest moments of Tuesday’s State of the Union remarks was President Joe Biden’s insistence that some Republicans want to sunset Medicare and Social Security — which Republicans in the chamber vehemently denied. Now, the GOP is trying to flip the script on Biden, arguing he’s the one looking to cut Medicare Advantage, the privatized alternative to the original Medicare program, POLITICO’s Eli Stokols and Lauren Egan report. Republicans are on the offensive — and defending their argument that they’re not eyeing Medicare cuts, though the White House fought back on Twitter.
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   | | | | | | BIRD FLU WORRIES — After a recent spillover of bird flu to mammals, the World Health Organization warned against assuming the risk to humans will always remain low, POLITICO’s Ashleigh Furlong and Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif report. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization should, for now, assess the disease as a low risk for humans, noting H5N1 transmission between humans has been “rare and nonsustained” in the past. In October, the H5N1 virus was detected in a mink farm in Spain’s Galicia region. While investigations of the outbreak found mink-to-mink transmission might have taken place at the farm, all staff there tested negative for the virus. Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that cases of avian influenza in minks, otters, foxes and sea lions reported in recent weeks need to be monitored closely. NO NEW VARIANTS FROM CHINA, STUDY FINDS — Despite fears that the end of China’s “zero-Covid” policy would bring new variants, a new study found no evidence of that happening, Sarah-Taïssir writes. The research, published in The Lancet on Wednesday, found that no new Covid-19 variants had emerged in the country since it lifted its draconian policy last year, a move that triggered a surge in cases and deaths. The analysis was conducted in Beijing, where more than 90 percent of cases late last year were the same Omicron subvariants circulating elsewhere. Still, some researchers caution against being too optimistic too early, noting the study’s geographic limits.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | FIRST IN PULSE: GROWING COST OF GIVING BIRTH — A new report from Families USA found the average cost of having a baby for a privately insured American to be more than $13,000, with even higher costs in some states. The health consumer advocacy group argues hospitals’ consolidation and focus on the bottom line have led to rising costs, noting that an average birth could take a significant percentage of most family incomes, sometimes more than housing.
| | | FIRST IN PULSE (II): ARNOLD & PORTER ADDS TO HEALTH PRACTICE — Law and lobbying firm Arnold & Porter is continuing its hiring spree, bringing on Katie Brown from FTI Consulting as a policy adviser to focus on work involving life sciences and health care providers, Megan R. Wilson reports. She’s previously worked at the Association of Community College Trustees and the National Skills Coalition. Brown also has Capitol Hill experience, advising Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.) and the late Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) on policy issues, including health care and education. Arnold & Porter recently hired former Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), who retired earlier this year after 26 years in Congress. In November, the firm hired Sonja Nesbit away from FTI Consulting to work on its health care lobbying team.
| | | Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), former House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chair, is lobbying on behalf of Oracle on veterans’ issues, according to a lobbying disclosure filing, Ben reports. Last year, Oracle bought electronic health records firm Cerner and is working on modernizing the electronic health records system at the VA. Laura Friedel will be a partner at Tarplin, Downs & Young, LLC. She was previously clerk and GOP staff director for the Senate Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee and is a Richard Shelby (R.-Ala) alum. Utpal Koppikar was named CFO of Verily, an Alphabet company focused on health care. Gail Boudreaux will be chair of The Business Council, becoming the first woman to hold the position. She’s president and CEO of Elevance Health.
| | | KHN lays out California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $18 billion plan to battle homelessness — and its underlying health crises. Anand Parekh, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s chief medical adviser, writes in Forbes about the signs of opportunities (and challenges) for bipartisan health policy from Biden’s State of the Union address.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: Every day, patients at the pharmacy counter discover their commercial insurance coverage does not provide the level of access and affordability they need. New data from a study by IQVIA reveal the harmful practices of insurers and their pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) can lead to significantly higher out-of-pocket costs for medicines — causing some patients to abandon their medicines completely. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
