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Presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy. | | | | | |  | | By Alice Miranda Ollstein | Presented by |  | | | With David Lim, Sarah Owermohle 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 subscribers 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.
| | | — As Congress’ bipartisan negotiations on a Covid aid bill falter, Democrats are gearing up to go it alone. — Another vaccine candidate is showing strong results — but not against the new Covid variant from South Africa. — President Joe Biden plans to spend $50 million to encourage uninsured Americans to enroll in Obamacare. Welcome to Friday Pulse, where your author is just shocked that people are shocked that so few people are watching the pandemic’s toll on working parents and saying, “Sign me up!” Populate my inbox. Send tips and stories to: aollstein@politico.com. | | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies have committed more than $7 billion to help the nation address the COVID-19 outbreak, by providing premium relief, eliminating patient treatment costs, and enhancing access to telehealth. Learn More. | | | | | | DEMOCRATS PREPARE TO PUSH COVID AID BILL VIA RECONCILIATION — Democrats are getting ready to introduce a budget resolution next week, the first step in passing a massive Covid relief bill with only Democratic votes — angering the GOP lawmakers who’ve been meeting with Democrats and White House officials to hammer out a bipartisan deal. Republicans are calling on Biden to intervene and give them time to craft a compromise bill. But Democrats are worried those negotiations are doomed to fail, and will only delay the distribution of desperately needed public health funds. They want to be ready in case the talks don’t work out. STICKING POINTS: Republicans are complaining that Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief proposal is too expensive. Progressive Democrats, meanwhile, are insisting that figure is already a compromise and that much more funding is needed to combat the pandemic and avoid economic collapse. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a member of the bipartisan negotiating group, has argued that entire pieces of the plan aren’t needed; he isn’t convinced, for example, that schools need $170 billion dollars to reopen. “That’s one thing I’m rather skeptical of right now,” he said Thursday in a live interview with the Washington Post, arguing that private religious schools and charter schools have already reopened without these funds. The White House has so far maintained that a bipartisan bill is still possible, despite Democrats’ parliamentary moves. “The policies in his COVID relief package are policies that are not Democratic or Republican,” press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. “Everybody wants their kids to go back to school. Everybody thinks that there should be more shots in the arms of Americans. Everybody thinks that the American people should get more relief.” Still, as the negotiations drag on, people in Biden’s circle have serious doubts. “Can there be a core Covid policy that’s bipartisan?” a source close to Biden asked PULSE. “How many things do you have to throw off the cliff to do that?” And some lawmakers, like Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), are feeling fed up too.
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| | | ANOTHER VACCINE ON THE WAY, BUT NEW VARIANTS LOOM LARGE — Maryland biotech company Novavax released welcome news Thursday that its Covid-19 vaccine is more than 89 percent effective in a late-stage trial. The catch: The shot is significantly less effective against the coronavirus strain first found in South Africa, which has already made its way to the U.S. It’s a meaningful gap. Moderna said earlier this week that its own vaccine, already in wide distribution, is slightly weaker against that variant but still protective. Novavax, however, reports that its shot is just 49.4 percent effective against the strain, after conducting a mid-stage study in South Africa. Company executives are still in conversations with FDA about whether Novavax can still apply for emergency use authorization. Officials are worried. Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told POLITICO this week that the new variant is “problematic” and it is “prudent” for companies like Moderna to get to work creating a booster shot. Pfizer, maker of the other authorized Covid-19 vaccine along with BioNTech, also says it is exploring the data to understand its own shot’s efficacy against the emerging variant. In the meantime, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending against travel right now. The White House is banning foreign nationals traveling from South Africa and much of Europe from entering the country and is requiring negative Covid tests from returning Americans. IS J&J’S SHOT NEXT IN LINE? — Johnson & Johnson is expected to release the results of its phase 3 trial of its Covid vaccine today. Much is riding on the outcome. J&J’s vaccine requires just one dose instead of two, making it far simpler to distribute to hard-to-reach populations. | | | |   | | | | | | BIDEN JUICES OBAMACARE MARKETING — The Biden administration plans to spend $50 million in advertising and outreach for a second Obamacare open enrollment period set to launch, even though the regular sign-up window wrapped just six weeks ago. That budget is a huge contrast with the $10 million per year the Trump administration spent to market the health exchanges. Trump officials — who didn’t hide their skepticism about the Affordable Care Act— questioned the need to advertise for private insurance companies. Obamacare “navigators” who help people sign up for plans, meanwhile, have protested that Americans need far more awareness about their options, as they may qualify for subsidies that would keep them from shouldering the full price of premiums.
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| | | HEALTH GROUPS ‘DISAPPOINTED’ BY BIDEN ORDERS ON ABORTION — Some reproductive health care providers, which had pushed for Biden to reverse the Trump administration’s conservative overhaul of the Title X family planning program, now say his executive order Thursday asking the Department of Health and Human Services to review existing policy does not go far enough. “We’re disappointed the Biden administration did not suspend the dangerous Title X ‘gag rule,’” read a statement by Michelle Trupiano, the executive director of Missouri Family Health Council, which is the sole Title X grantee for the state. “But we’re encouraged that the President has placed such an emphasis on access to quality, affordable healthcare so early in his term.” Julie Rabinovitz, president and CEO of Essential Access Health, which runs California’s Title X program, expressed similar frustration. “The President’s order to HHS is a signal that the administration is committed to righting the wrongs of the Trump administration, but without any meaningful policy changes, it unfortunately falls short,” she said in a statement. “Every day the regulations remain in place, the federal government is dictating a lower standard of care for low-income patients.” The White House said Thursday that officials are doing everything they legally can to unwind Trump’s ban on Title X providers referring patients for abortions. "This policy was implemented through rulemaking and to reverse it, there will need to be another rulemaking," a senior administration official said. ANNUAL ANTI-ABORTION MARCH GOES ONLINE — Biden’s orders also landed on the eve of the Friday’s March for Life, a yearly anti-abortion demonstration that usually draws thousands to D.C. and has featured appearances by Donald Trump and Mike Pence during their term. But this year, Covid-19 and the recent attack on the U.S. Capitol has forced organizers to instead hold a mostly virtual event, featuring speeches by members of Congress, state lawmakers and activists. A small group of leaders of anti-abortion organizations will still march in person in D.C. | | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: We believe everyone should have access to health care, no matter who you are or where you live. In every ZIP code in every state, Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are working to improve health and expand access to quality care. Learn More. | | | | | | Vaccine inequality is playing out on Capitol Hill. Kimberly Leonard writes for Business Insider that the Capitol’s cafeteria workers, police and janitors don’t know when they’ll get vaccinated as lawmakers and senior staff get the shots. Longtime Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano argues in The Atlantic that California’s Covid-19 surge is the fault of “pandejos” — a Spanish-language pun meaning pandemic idiots — flouting public health guidelines. The World Health Organization and the CDC are giving conflicting advice on whether pregnant people should get the Covid-19 vaccine, leading to widespread stress and confusion, Apoorva Mandavilli and Roni Caryn Rabin report for the New York Times. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
