|
Presented by UnitedHealth Group: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy. | | | | | |  | | By Adam Cancryn and Sarah Owermohle | Presented by |  | | | 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 nation's stockpile of emergency medical supplies is well below federal targets, leaving the U.S. vulnerable if coronavirus cases surge once again. — New polling shows demand for the Covid-19 vaccine continuing to slow, with just a small percentage of the unvaccinated population still eager for the shot. — The hospital industry will fight plans to finance the White House's bipartisan infrastructure bill that could divert Covid-19 relief funds. WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. Man, it’s a hot one. Stay cool and send tips to acancryn@politico.com and sowermohle@politico.com. | | A message from UnitedHealth Group: At UnitedHealth Group, sustainability is an extension of our business strategy, culture and mission as we work to help ensure the health care system works better for everyone. We are focused on helping to create a modern, high-performing health system, fostering an inclusive and diverse culture, maintaining strong and effective corporate governance, and minimizing our impact on the environment. Learn more about our commitment to sustainability in our recently released 2020 Sustainability Report. | | | | | | WHAT’S DRIVING AMERICA’S STOCKPILE SHORTAGE — A year-and-a-half after Covid-19 reached U.S. shores, the country’s stash of critical medical supplies remains far too small to combat a widespread pandemic. The Strategic National Stockpile is short by hundreds of millions of surgical masks, gloves and gowns, POLITICO’s Erin Banco reports — with internal data showing the current inventory at less than 7 percent of federal targets. The administration is also struggling to fill requests from abroad for oxygen, sending out only a fraction of the supplies that hard-hit countries have sought. Nepal, for example, has asked for nearly 20,000 oxygen cylinders. But a recent shipment from the U.S. contained bv swonly about 1,000. The difficulties ramping up the stockpile risks leaving the U.S. unprepared for another surge, especially as the vaccination rate stalls and the more transmissible Delta variant circulates. The government still has no good way of quickly scaling the production of needed supplies, and lawmakers are only just beginning to explore ways to better fund and organize the federal stockpile. The administration believes it now has enough supplies on hand to fulfill small state requests and manage a moderate increase in cases. But a larger spike would reduce the federal government to simply supplementing states’ own stockpiles. It’s also likely to remain limited in its ability to aid foreign nations. Though the U.S. allocated $18 million last year to boost medical oxygen supplies in 11 countries, the machines purchased have only reached three of those countries. And as Covid-19 continues to spread worldwide, the demands on the U.S. are rising; already, dozens of other countries are seeking emergency oxygen supplies.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Add West Wing Playbook to keep up with the power players, latest policy developments and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing and across the highest levels of the Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | |
MORE SIGNS VACCINE DEMAND IS DWINDLING — Just 3 percent of adults plan to get the Covid-19 vaccine as soon as possible, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey — the smallest proportion recorded to date.
The finding is the result of two trends: A rising vaccination rate among those eager to get the shot, and a hardening among the minority of Americans who don’t want it — leaving fewer people in the so-called movable middle the Biden administration is still trying to reach. The good news: An estimated 65 percent of adults are at least partially vaccinated, the KFF survey shows, including 85 percent of seniors and 7 in 10 women. Among most demographic groups, at least half now report being vaccinated. That’s contributed to a surge of optimism, with three-quarters of the public saying the U.S. is nearing the end of the pandemic. But here’s the bad news: Fourteen percent of adults are dead set against getting vaccinated, and another 6 percent won’t unless they’re required to — and those figures have remained largely steady since January. The resistance is most significant among the uninsured, Republicans and rural residents, where nearly a quarter say they’re “definitely not” getting the shot. It’s driving a widening gender gap, too, with women more likely to be vaccinated than men. “This difference appears to largely reflect differences in partisan identification between men and women, with 43% of men identifying as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents compared to 27% of women,” KFF’s report said. What could make a difference: Full FDA approval of the vaccines — a development that could assuage safety fears among some holdout groups. But, in the meantime, the survey indicates it’s all about making the vaccines attractive and easily accessible, including offering incentives and bringing the shots directly to those who remain unvaccinated. COULD LONG COVID CONCERNS BOOST VACCINATIONS? — That’s the suggestion from an initiative run by former CDC Director Tom Frieden, which found in its own survey that nearly a third of adults are unaware of the threat of long-term Covid-19 complications. Once the symptoms are described to them, 32 percent of unvaccinated respondents said they were more likely to get the shot, according to the poll conducted by Resolve to Save Lives. After watching video testimonials from long Covid patients, that proportion rose to 39 percent. Yet even those findings indicated that there remains a determined unvaccinated population, with 42 percent saying they have little to no concern about long Covid because too much is still unknown about the condition — or they don’t believe they’ll contract the disease at all. | | | HOSPITALS BLAST BIDEN’s INFRASTRUCTURE PAY-FORS — Nine hospital organizations are criticizing the White House’s plan to fund billions of dollars in new infrastructure spending as part of a bipartisan deal. In a letter to congressional leaders, the coalition took particular aim at the potential for repurposing Covid-19 funds to pay for the legislation. Hospitals are still awaiting billions more in pandemic aid that would be distributed through the Provider Relief Fund. The groups also oppose extending scheduled cuts to federal programs, including Medicare. “Medicare funds should not be used to pay for roads and bridges,” wrote the coalition, which includes the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals. Under the White House plan, roughly $80 billion in Covid-19 funding would go toward financing the bill, along with extending the federal program cuts and a range of other measures. But Congress has repeatedly waived those cuts, and it remains unclear how it would cobble together the $80 billion from various pandemic relief sources. The infrastructure deal is facing fire on the Hill, too. After striking a bipartisan agreement, top Democrats are now trying to quell concerns within their own party about their infrastructure strategy, POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris and Nicholas Wu report. | | | |   | | | | | | AMA STARTS SEARCH FOR NEW JAMA EDITOR IN CHIEF — The American Medical Association is appointing a search committee to find a new leader for the medical journal, weeks after the high-profile ouster of its previous editor in chief. The 18-person panel, which will run the extensive recruitment and hiring process, includes a range of prominent academics and public health experts. Johns Hopkins University oncology and epidemiology professor Otis Brawley will chair the committee. The backstory: Former JAMA editor in chief Howard Bauchner announced his resignation earlier this month amid scrutiny over a March podcast questioning the existence of structural racism in health care. A tweet from the official JAMA account promoting the episode asserted that “No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in health care?” Bauchner and others at JAMA and the AMA later apologized for the podcast and tweet, both of which were deleted. Bauchner, who was also put on administrative leave, officially steps down today.
| | | | TUNE IN TO DISPATCH+ ON APPLE PODCASTS : POLITICO Dispatch, our daily podcast that cuts through the news clutter and keeps you up to speed on the most important developments of the moment, is expanding. In collaboration with the new Apple Podcasts Subscription platform, Dispatch+ launches this week! This new podcast gives premium Dispatch+ s exclusive bonus weekly reporting and analysis from POLITICO's newsroom. Don't miss out, subscribe and listen to Dispatch+ on Apple Podcasts. | | | | |
| | | April Kapu is the new president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Kapu is a nursing executive at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a professor and associate dean at Vanderbilt’s nursing school. | | A message from UnitedHealth Group: UnitedHealth Group believes that all individuals should have access to high-quality, affordable health care that meets their unique needs. We are committed to advancing health equity by delivering personalized care, building a diverse health workforce, improving the health of underserved communities and providing insights and analyses to address disparities in care. Learn more about our commitment to sustainability in our recently released 2020 Sustainability Report. | | | | | | Students enrolled in Caribbean medical schools — many of which are for-profit — are having increasing difficulty getting accepted to residency programs, The New York Times’ Emma Goldberg reports. California’s once-vaunted vaccination campaign has stagnated within the Black and Latino neighborhoods hit hardest by the pandemic, Kaiser Health News’ Angela Hart reports. The precipitous drop in daily new Covid-19 cases is giving health officials another shot at running successful contact tracing programs, The Wall Street Journal’s Betsy McKay writes. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
