Reinvigorating the Democratic presidential campaign

Reproductive rights organizations and progressive groups were quick to rally around VP Kamala Harris after Sunday's news that President Biden would quit the 2024 race. They hope that Harris, with her long track record on abortion rights, can energize voters and more effectively attack former President Trump on his own evolving, yet hazy, views.

"[Republicans] know that when they're talking about abortion, they're losing," Ryan Stitzlein, vice president of political and government relations for the Reproductive Freedom for All Foundation told DCD. Trump did not mention reproductive rights at all during a 90-minute acceptance speech at the RNC on Thursday. While he's emphasized states' rights, he's also distanced himself from broad restrictions in states like Alabama and Arizona. (He also largely stayed away from another GOP priority, limiting access to gender-affirming care).

Yet even if Harris goes hard on abortion policy, it's the top issue for only a sliver of voters. Just 12% of voters said this March that this is the most important policy area for them heading into the election, according to KFF Health News polling. Those voters skewed young, and were mostly women and Black Americans.

There's also, of course, the open question of who Harris will tap to be her vice president. Democrats and pundits have already floated many names — several of which also came up as potential Biden replacements, though they've all fallen in line with Harris' presumed nomination since Sunday. Stay tuned — and of course, send tips.

pbm policy

PBM execs testify after scathing FTC report

Executives for the three big PBMs will testify this morning before the House Oversight Committee, keeping attention on PBM reform as Congress enters the home stretch before the elections. My colleague John Wilkerson will be there, albeit without popcorn, because food and drink is prohibited in hearing rooms.

This is the third in a series of hearings that Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) has held on the business practices of pharmacy benefit managers. PBM executives also testified in 2019 before the Senate Finance Committee.

But this is the first time executives have appeared since the FTC issued a negative report on the impact that the drug middlemen have on independent pharmacies, and reports emerged that the agency plans to sue the companies over their practices.

Independent pharmacists in rural areas are some of the loudest critics of PBMs, so it's no surprise that Comer, who represents a rural part of Kentucky, is not a fan.

cannabis regs

Doctor groups caution against cannabis deregulation

Poll after poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly favor legalizing marijuana, but some of the nation's most influential doctors groups aren't convinced loosening restrictions on marijuana is such a good idea, my colleague Nick Florko reports.

Nick combed through some 30,000 comments on the Biden Administration's proposal to reschedule marijuana, and he found that doctors groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, have concerns with the proposal because of the potential risks of marijuana use.

The psychiatric association argued that the drug should remain a Schedule I substance, a category for drugs, like heroin and cocaine, with no medical use. While marijuana does carry some serious, often overlooked, risks, the reluctance to support rescheduling is notable because the move isn't expected to dramatically increase most Americans' access to pot. As Nick and I wrote in May, it's mostly seen as a way to make it easier to study the medical effects of the drug.

Not all medical professionals are so worried though. The American Nurses Association is arguing that the Biden administration's proposal doesn't go far enough, and that marijuana should be removed from the Controlled Substances Act.

2024 watch

Trump campaign updates on his health

The former president is doing well and required no stitches after a bullet grazed his ear at a campaign rally on July 13, his former White House doctor said in a memo released Saturday by Trump's campaign.

The bullet passed less than a quarter inch from the former president's head, causing a two-centimeter-wide wound and "significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear," Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) said in the letter i. But "given the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself, no sutures were required."

Experts in trauma medicine told STAT earlier this week that the ear was likely to heal and fill in without stitches. The update on Trump's health comes after a week of public appearances at the Republican National Committee's campaign convention, where he spoke about the attack while rallying voters. But many still want to see clear updates on his health and any residual injuries from the shot. More from me.

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