| | | |   | Hello and happy Tuesday, D.C. Diagnosis readers! Have you been keeping up with the frenzy of J.P. Morgan news this week? Luckily there are plenty of STAT reporters there covering the highlights. Send news, tips and JPM thoughts to sarah.owermohle@statnews.com. | | | House Republicans’ Covid agenda starts now The House narrowly approved a rules package late Monday that reenvisions the chamber’s coronavirus subcommittee as a Biden administration nightmare, probing the virus’ origins, federal spending, and the impact that shutdowns had on American businesses and childrens’ development.
The revamped, 12-person committee doesn’t have subpoena power but can call on leaders of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability to force testimony. That could mean 2023 appearances from freshly retired infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, who Republicans have targeted with many of their coronavirus response frustrations. Plenty more details from me here. | The GOP’s health care movers and shakers  Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) (Al Drago/Getty Images) Missouri Republican Rep. Jason Smith secured the chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee on Monday after two rounds of voting that saw health subcommittee ranking member Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) lose out.
What does Smith’s win mean for health care policy? Not much, yet. He said during the votes that he wants to work on “empowering patients” and in recent weeks touted his budget chops, but he hasn’t gotten too specific about a health agenda, as I reported.
That said, there are some hints: Smith heartily endorsed new Republican rules that would slash federal spending and totally eliminate Covid-19 carveouts. He also has backed telehealth expansions and improved behavioral health care. But so far, expect a lot of Republicans’ health care priorities to start out in the Energy and Commerce Committee, where new chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has already laid out some priorities, from Covid-19 hearings to Medicare reforms. More on the names to know, here. | Democrats say McCarthy concessions risk cuts to Medicare, Medicaid To secure the House speakership, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made promises to hold-out Republicans that Democrats say make future cuts to Medicare and Medicaid much more likely, my colleague John Wilkerson writes.
Among the many concessions, McCarthy agreed to cap discretionary spending at levels from the beginning of the Biden administration. It’s not an official House rule, but there are ways for budget hawks to enforce it, including with another McCarthy concession that allows a single lawmaker to call for a vote to remove the speaker. Democrats have long warned that Republicans want to cut Medicare spending, and they say these new concessions are further proof that the threat is real, even if Senate Democrats can work to stop any egregious changes. (Medicare is not directly subject to the spending caps that McCarthy promised, but Democrats say Republicans will likely be forced to cut spending to Medicare and Medicaid to meet strict budget targets.)
“While on the face of it, their policy may not substantially hit these programs, they likely would not be able to reach their unrealistic budget targets without targeting Medicare and/or Medicaid,” said Chris Jennings, a veteran of the Clinton White House who founded Jennings Policy Strategies, a consulting firm. | How will the healthcare supply chain operate in the future? While the Covid-19 crisis continues, there is a need to begin thinking about how the supply chain will operate beyond the pandemic. Healthcare distributors and our government partners are already planning for the management of vaccines and therapeutics through the commercial market, and the industry stands ready to further leverage its logistics expertise, capacity and capabilities to support this effort. Learn more. | Americans hate drug ads. Here’s why 
(Molly Ferguson for STAT) Drug ads are repetitive, tiresome, and gross — at least that’s what people say when they complain to the Federal Communications Commission about the deluge of TV commercials. STAT’s Kate Sheridan dove into Americans’ complaints to the federal agency, finding that most people said there were too many drug ads, they didn’t want to hear about side effects and they worried about the impact advertisements, especially for HIV drugs, could have on children. But that doesn’t mean they are going anywhere. Drug companies spent $7 billion on advertising last year alone, and health economists argue they can have a benefit — especially ads that can encourage people to seek medication for depression, or low-cost life savers like statins. Read Kate’s breakdown of Americans’ top complaints here. | Moderna signals Covid-19 vaccines will cost at least $110 a pop The vaccine maker said Monday that it plans to price its Covid-19 vaccine between $110 and $130 a dose, following in Pfizer’s footsteps as drug companies prepare for the government to wind down its pandemic spending. The Wall Street Journal first reported the move.
In both cases, the commercial price is significantly more than what the U.S. government has paid for the vaccines, STAT’s Ed Silverman writes. The cost per dose was $26.36 in a July deal, up from $15.25 and $17.50 in previous agreements.
While Moderna is following Pfizer’s lead, its price could still be met with some controversy. The basic technology of the vaccine was developed by federally funded research at the National Institutes of Health and until late 2021, Moderna and the agency were locked in a patent dispute, Ed notes. Read more. | What we're reading - At JPM, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf talks about the congressional report on Aduhelm, STAT
- The PBM defense playbook, Axios
- Officials in Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma begin to probe prisons’ hepatitis C treatment efforts, STAT (and more here on South Dakota in particular)
- Novavax replaces CEO, citing need for ‘fresh perspective,’ STAT
- The fight over how to deliver bad news to patients, Politico
| | | Thanks for reading! More on Thursday,  | |
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