House tees up telehealth talks

The House Energy & Commerce Committee on Wednesday unanimously advanced a two-year extension of pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities, firming up the House's negotiating position ahead of potential December negotiations with the Senate, I report with my colleague Mario Aguilar.

Energy & Commerce paid for the telehealth policy with PBM reforms, including transparency measures and a policy to ensure payments to PBM from drugmakers aren't tied to drugs' list prices. Stay tuned for updates on whether the Senate will go along with the plan.

The panel also narrowly passed a measure to vacate the Biden administration's nursing home staffing rule on a 21-18 vote. It's unclear whether that measure could have any future in the Senate.

drug pricing

HRSA's teeth are growing in

After struggling to rein in pharmaceutical companies that have tested the limits of their abilities to restrict access to medications discounted through the 340B program, HRSA may finally have decided a company has gone too far.

HRSA threatened Johnson & Johnson with sanctions if the company proceeds with a plan to issue rebates for two widely prescribed medicines instead of offering discounted prices, my colleague Ed Silverman reports.

Interestingly, both of the affected drugs, Stelara and Xarelto, are affected by Medicare's new drug price negotiation program. The agency warned J&J that the company faces penalties that could cost $7,000 per infraction. More from Ed here.

election 2024

Confused by Vance's health care comments? Democrats are happy to explain.

It's not clear that JD Vance helped much when, over the weekend, he tried to fill in the details of Trump's "concepts of a plan" for replacing the Affordable Care Act, according to John Wilkerson and Sarah Owermohle. On the one hand, he said pre-existing conditions should be covered. On the other hand, he said people in poor health should be insured separately from people in good health.

If people with expensive-to-treat conditions were grouped into separate plans, many would be priced out of coverage, according to Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, knocking down a pillar of the Affordable Care Act that is popular with voters.

"The concepts proposed by JD Vance are a prescription for discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions," Wyden said.

reproductive health

Democrats campaign on failed IVF bill

Vice President Harris has fresh fodder for her attacks on President Trump's reproductive health record. The Democratic candidate is slated to rally voters in Georgia tomorrow around IVF protections that Senate Republicans "yet again killed" in a Tuesday vote, her campaign announced. She's also expected to highlight recent reporting on Georgia women who died from health complications under the state's abortion ban, continuing Democrats' push to keep reproductive rights in the spotlight.

"In Arizona, Donald Trump took away the right of women to make their own decision about their reproductive rights. They know that," Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said ahead of the Tuesday vote on IVF protections, drawing a throughline between the reproductive health issues. Arizona is one of 10 states with abortion policy on the November ballot.

Trump has downplayed the divides caused by Roe's overturn and insisted he is a "leader on fertilization" who would, in a second administration, mandate that insurers cover IVF. (The failed bill would have done that; several Republicans cited coverage requirements as their main issue with the legislation.)

public health

Let's talk mpox

Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security convened a panel Wednesday night that hit on the mpox outbreak spreading through central Africa, U.S. efforts to supply vaccines, where the infectious disease response is falling apart — and why, Sarah writes.

"HHS, essentially, they are not funded to develop innovations for mpox," said Loyce Pace, HHS assistant secretary on global affairs. "The vaccines we're using are for smallpox. So when you have this question about what the U.S. has, or what the world can use, or what we can contribute to the world — it's a really important question, because nothing we're talking about is actually for what we're talking about."

first opinion

Medicaid will have to plan ahead to cover long-acting PrEP

Medications are on the horizon that could revolutionize the prevention of HIV infections — but Medicaid may not be ready to cover them, Doug Wirth and Jeffrey S. Crowley write in a new op-ed for STAT.

Long-acting injections for PrEP administered every six months could increase adherence compared with the current regimen of daily pills or injections every two months. Forty HIV experts assembled recommendations for how to make sure Medicaid, which covers a significant share of the population with HIV, is ready to cover the medications. Read more.

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What we're reading

Drugmakers rely on 'use codes' to vastly expand the nature of their patent claims, STAT analysis shows, STAT
Afraid to seek care amid Georgia's abortion ban, she stayed at home and died, ProPublica
Bernie Sanders keeps the heat on Novo's high prices, STAT
Arkansas' governor says Medicaid extension for new moms isn't needed, KFF Health News