budget negotiations
ACA, BIOSECURE left behind in budget talks
Enhanced ACA subsidies are still in limbo, even after President Biden issued a plea this weekend for Congress to extend them in this round of budget talks. Democrats pitched a one-year extension last week on the heels of a CBO report that projected that roughly 3.8 million people would lose coverage annually without the tax credits.
Democrats floated the idea of extending the subsidies through 2026 in a year-end deal, and paying for it with a budgetary maneuver that would theoretically extend budget cuts that haven't actually been implemented, as my colleague Rachel Cohrs Zhang reported. But by Monday, it looked like Republicans would reject the extension slipping into the current budget deal.
Also, legislation to restrict U.S. drugmakers from using key Chinese contract manufacturers was dealt a major blow when senators left it out of a must-pass defense budget bill, John Wilkerson reports. There's still a chance that BIOSECURE could be attached to stopgap government funding legislation before the end of the year.
on the hill
Guthrie to lead top House committee on health
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) is slated to lead the Energy & Commerce Committee next year, sources confirmed to STAT. Guthrie currently chairs E&C's health subcommittee, where he's led investigations into public health agencies, the pharmaceutical supply chain, and workforce shortages.
Guthrie has also signaled he wants to probe the implementation of Medicare drug price negotiation and criticized Biden administration moves to keep Medicare drug plan premiums low.
Rep. Bob Latta, who was also vying for the role, congratulated Guthrie on X and said the committee will soon "lead the way in advancing solutions to our nation's most pressing issues."
vaccine policy
Democrats push for vaccine compensation changes before RFK Jr. takes over
There's bipartisan agreement that the current government program for compensating people injured by vaccines isn't working the way it should. But the program has become politicized, and lawmakers haven't been able to agree on how to fix it.
Democrats are making a last-ditch effort to make changes to the way victims of vaccine injury are compensated, and the way vaccine makers are protected from legal liability in a potential end-of-year health package, according to three lobbyists following the issue, Rachel reports.
Vaccines for Covid-19 are stuck in a smaller program that's been overwhelmed by claims, and vaccines for RSV have not been added yet to any vaccine injury program — which also means vaccine makers including Pfizer and Sanofi don't have the same liability protections that apply to other vaccine makers, as Rachel previously reported.
transition watch
Pharma industry staying quiet on RFK Jr.
The pharmaceutical industry is not lobbying senators to stop the confirmation of long-time critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS secretary, Rachel and John Wilkerson report. Twelve lobbyists, consultants, Senate aides, and a patient advocate described silence from industry just a month out from the new administration and confirmation hearings that Senate leadership promise will come quickly.
It's a signal that after a bruising four years under the Biden administration, as Democrats passed drug pricing reforms decades in the making, drugmakers are seeking to turn a new leaf with the Trump team, Rachel and John write. Still, it may come as a surprise that the industry — which RFK Jr. has accused of "mass poisoning" Americans to make them sicker — isn't fighting.
BIO and PhRMA execs told STAT they want to work with the incoming administration and are focusing on "constructive engagement" with both sides of the aisle. But that doesn't mean that everyone is happy about the prospect of a Secretary RFK Jr. Read more.
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