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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 Krista Mahr and Daniel Payne | | |
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Republicans on the HELP Committee want to be more involved in planning bipartisan hearings. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | CASSIDY’S CRY FOR HELP — The changes that Sen. Bernie Sanders is bringing to the Senate HELP Committee are already angering Republicans who accuse the Vermont senator of threatening long-standing bipartisan comity, Daniel reports. Ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said last week that the minority should be more involved in the committee’s work, particularly in bipartisan hearings. Cassidy’s office told POLITICO they weren’t given enough information on — or time to prepare for — Thursday’s bipartisan hearing, a move that others said was a departure from the usual atmosphere of bipartisan cooperation on the committee. Sanders also communicates directly with Republicans on the committee without always including Cassidy, according to aides on both sides of the aisle. “If the goal is to pass legislation, you cannot circumvent the ranking member — especially one like Cassidy, who has shown he is more than willing to work towards bipartisan solutions — because they are the one empowered by the minority party to lead negotiations on major legislative packages and represent their conference,” a Cassidy spokesperson said in a statement. What Sanders’ office says: Two Sanders staffers defended their boss’ approach to the job, telling POLITICO he’s trying to expedite legislation. His office can get more done without having to clear witnesses or the scope of hearings with the ranking member, they said. “If the charge is Bernie is not like previous chairmen … guilty as charged,” said one Sanders aide granted anonymity to discuss the committee’s inner workings. Why it matters: Disagreements over process this early in the year could be a bad sign for future bipartisan agreement, even as Cassidy and Sanders have praised the content of the first bipartisan hearings as ripe for agreement and showed some early signs of trying to come together on legislation. WELCOME TO MONDAY PULSE — The proliferate offspring of hippos that Pablo Escobar bought for his Colombian estate in the 1970s are now considered an invasive species. Any drug kingpins keeping deadly animals in your neighborhood? Send your news and tips to kmahr@politico.com and dpayne@politico.com. TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Katherine Ellen Foley talks with Krista about the new law that makes it easier for doctors to prescribe a lifesaving drug — buprenorphine — to treat opioid use disorder. The catch: The DEA subjects the drug to such strict regulation that many doctors are reluctant to dispense it.
| | | | | | | A message from PhRMA: Insurers and PBMs don’t pay full price for your medicines. So why do you? Insurers and PBMs get discounts on medicines. Surprised? These savings can reduce the cost of some brand medicines by 50% or more, but insurers and PBMs aren’t required to share these savings with you. What else don’t they want you to know? | | | | | | | 
Lawmakers complained on the Sunday shows about China's refusal to give more information about Covid's origins. | Kevin Frayer/Getty Images | LAWMAKERS SLAM CHINA ON COVID … Lawmakers accused Beijing on Sunday of continuing to block information related to the origins of SARS-CoV-2, POLITICO’s David Cohen reports. Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Chinese government’s obfuscation of information was responsible for U.S. agencies having diverging views on whether the virus was the result of a zoonotic spillover or a lab leak. “We have so few facts that, inevitably, different agencies are going to arrive at different conclusions,” Himes said. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) also blamed China’s refusal to be more open about Covid-19 on questions about its origin. “If this virus had originated virtually anywhere else, we would have had world scientists there,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” … AND THE DEA ON TELEHEALTH. Congressional Republicans and Democrats are also criticizing a new DEA proposal to make it harder for patients to access certain controlled substances and other drugs by scaling back rules that facilitated prescribing by telehealth during the pandemic, POLITICO’s Ben Leonard reports. The pandemic rules aimed to help patients and doctors avoid contracting Covid-19, and many lawmakers believe they also proved valuable in expanding telehealth access to care, especially for opioid use disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs. FLYING IN — Nearly 200 neurologists head to the Hill today and Tuesday to urge lawmakers to support legislation that includes addressing prior authorization, funding brain research and reforming the Medicare payment system. The “Neurology on the Hill” event is organized by the American Academy of Neurology, the world's largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | ‘DANGEROUS AND UNACCEPTABLE’ — The Biden administration called Republican efforts to dissuade pharmacies from distributing abortion pills “dangerous and just unacceptable,” POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. The statement follows Walgreen’s decision, first reported by POLITICO, to not dispense the pills in nearly two dozen states where GOP attorneys general have threatened them with legal action under the 19th-century Comstock Act. Abortion pills are the most common way to end a pregnancy in the United States and have become a focus for anti-abortion groups and Republican officials seeking to block access in their states. A group of doctors and conservative medical groups is suing to overturn the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, and a federal judge could rule to cut off access to the medication nationwide at any time. The Biden administration has pledged to swiftly appeal any ruling that blocks people from obtaining the pills.
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Biden's doctors said he had a common form of skin cancer removed last month. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo | BIDEN’S DIAGNOSIS — The White House confirmed President Joe Biden’s skin lesion removed during his physical last month was basal cell carcinoma, a common and treatable skin cancer, POLITICO’s Myah Ward reports. All cancerous tissue was removed, and no further treatment is required, his doctor said. The biopsy results come about three weeks after Biden went to Walter Reed Medical Center for his second annual physical since taking office. His health report described an 80-year-old president who is “healthy,” “vigorous” and “fit to successfully execute the duties” of his office.
| | Child care and early childhood education | | CHILD CARE ON THE TRAIL — More and more legislators are introducing bills that would allow campaign funds to be used for child care, our colleagues over at the Women Rule newsletter report. This year alone, lawmakers in Georgia, Nevada, Massachusetts, Arizona, Hawaii, Tennessee, Iowa, Oklahoma and Kansas have introduced such bills. At the end of February, Texas and Florida were the latest states to join them, introducing bills that allow candidates to use campaign funds for related child-care expenses. Still, out of 28 states that allow or have allowed such use of campaign funds, only 16 have codified the practice into law. And, even in states that have already approved campaign money for child care, some women are reluctant to take advantage of those funds, according to Liuba Grechen Shirley, whose run for Congress as a working mom inspired her to found Vote Mama PAC, which supports Democratic women with young children as they run for office. “At the state level, there’s still a lot of people who are afraid to use their campaign funds for child care because they think that they will be criticized,” Grechen Shirley said.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | Sree Chaguturu has been named chair-elect of the board of directors of the American Telemedicine Association. Chaguturu is executive vice president and chief medical officer at CVS Health.
| | | The New York Times reports how A.I. is used to detect cancer that doctors miss. Stat reports on what the dogs that have lived and flourished in Chernobyl’s evacuated zone can tell us about living in that hostile environment. The way doctors treat diabetes is changing with a new generation of medication, The Wall Street Journal reports.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: Insurers and their PBMs don’t want you to see that you could be paying more than they are for your medicines. Rebates and discounts can significantly lower what insurers and PBMs pay for medicines. These savings can reduce the cost of some brand medicines by 50% or more. But insurers and PBMs aren’t required to share those savings with you at the pharmacy counter.
They don’t want you to see that they use deductibles, coinsurance and other tactics to shift more costs on to you. Or that the three largest PBMs control 80% of the prescription drug market. Or that last year they blocked access to more than 1,150 medicines, including medicines that could have lowered costs for you at the pharmacy.
PBMs and insurance practices are shrouded in secrecy, they need to be held accountable. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
