PhRMA's courting a GOP House doctor

The pharmaceutical industry's modus operandi to influence politicians is to give a flood of money to a single lawmaker's campaign from CEOs, lobbyists, and company political action committees. The industry's latest target is Rep. Larry Bucshon, a cardiothoracic surgeon and member of an influential House health care committee, I write in a new article out today.

The total was nearly $56,000 just over the past three months, my analysis showed. That included donations from the CEOs of Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Biogen, Gilead, UCB, Amgen, and Merck, PhRMA executives, and other companies.

Bucshon has been active in advocating reform of the 340B drug discount program, including a bill this year that passed out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, and has criticized Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act. Get the full analysis here.

science

Meet the new NIAID director

National Institutes of Health

This fall, an Alabama-based infectious disease expert effectively becomes the new Dr. Fauci. NIH announced Jeanne Marrazzo as the NIAID director pick on Wednesday, saying she'd assume the role in the fall – likely just as budget talks are heating up, my co-author Sarah Owermohle writes.

Marrazzo, whose research is focused largely on HIV and other STIs, is pretty familiar with the institute. She's worked on NIH grants in some form since 1997, and Fauci himself described her as "very well-liked" and respected in a call with STAT. But that doesn't mean she won't face challenges: For starters, Republicans in Congress want to probe the institute's coronavirus research and shut down controversial gain-of-function studies.

Besides her longtime HIV focus, which Fauci called "very central" to the institute's goals, Marrazzo became an increasingly public figure during the coronavirus pandemic, sharing public videos on limiting transmission during the holidays and talking with the media about the vaccine review process. More on Marrazzo here.

insurance

Uninsured rate hit a record low — but not for long

Roughly 7.7% of Americans didn't have any health insurance as of this past March — a "record low" uninsured rate, according to the latest health insurance survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, my colleague Bob Herman reports.

However, that uninsured rate — which still translated to more than 25 million Americans with no health coverage — is almost certainly higher now, because millions of low-income Americans have lost the Medicaid coverage they gained during the pandemic as states began re-evaluating their Medicaid rolls in April.

Bob also noted that major health insurers that contract with states to cover Medicaid patients may have reason to be concerned, as well. Read more.

drug pricing

Will Medicare negotiation actually save money?

Drug companies already offer discounts greater than the starting point for Medicare price negotiation on the drugs that most expect to be subject to negotiation, according to a study published in the Journal of Managed Care + Specialty Pharmacy.

The Inflation Reduction Act created a minimum discount that Medicare receives on drugs subject to negotiation, and it can haggle for lower prices from there. Medicare will announce by Sept. 1 the first 10 drugs it will negotiate. Of the 10 drugs that researchers expect to be on that list, private health insurers already negotiate rebates that are greater than the minimum discount.

There are two ways to think about the study results. One is that the minimum discounts aren't as draconian as drug makers claim, according to my colleague John Wilkerson. The other takeaway is that Medicare can't simply take the minimum discount and call it a day. Medicare negotiators will have to drive hard bargains to generate much savings from the law.

providers

A private equity giant's new lobbying tactic

Three physician groups backed by private equity giant Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe hired a prominent lobbying firm to lobby on federal policy on mergers and acquisitions, my colleague Bob Herman reports.

Over the past two weeks, United Musculoskeletal Partners, U.S. Anesthesia Partners, and U.S. Radiology Specialists each registered with Forbes Tate Partners, a lobbying shop founded by political insiders who used to work in President Bill Clinton's administration.

The registrations come as the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice are circling the sorts of private equity deals these companies execute, and the FTC is investigating U.S. Anesthesia Partners over its market power. Read more for Bob's full analysis of how these companies operate, and how they are addressing threats to that business model in Washington.

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