The Biden Administration and Congressional leadership continued meeting this week amid growing pressure to reach an agreement and avoid a default on the nation’s debt. President Biden expressed confidence on Wednesday that negotiators would reach an agreement as he prepares to leave for a Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Japan. The President indicated that he will cut his trip short to return to the negotiations by early next week. Speaker of the House McCarthy (R-CA) also told reporters that a deal this week is “doable.” Negotiations have narrowed to a small group of key negotiators on each side, and specific issues like Medicaid work requirements remain key policy differences. Should a deal on the debt ceiling come together, we could expect to see the House being consideration of the compromise next week, which will ultimately require a bipartisan vote for final passage. The Senate is scheduled to be out of session until after Memorial Day, but Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has warned Senators they may be called back to vote on a debt limit deal pending House action.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a markup of bills on Wednesday, the 17^th, where the full list of bills is available here. The majority of the bills considered by the committee passed by a voice vote including: H.R. 3281, the Transparent PRICE Act, H.R. 2544, the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act, and H.R. 3284, the Providers and Payers COMPETE Act. Bills related to value-based payments in Medicaid and transparency in the 340b program passed mostly along party lines.

The Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on Tuesday the 16^th regarding the lack of cost transparency in the current health system. The hearing: “Health Care Price Transparency: A Patient’s Right to Know” was the first of two Ways and Means hearings regarding rising costs for patients. The Health Subcommittee met Wednesday the 17^th in a hearing concerning the price of care, “Why Health Care is Unaffordable: Anticompetitive and Consolidated Markets”. That hearing focused on the benefits of price transparency and the role of Congress in protecting patients.

President Biden chose Dr. Bertagnoli as his nominee for Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Bertagnoli is currently the first female director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and previously, worked as a surgeon at the Strang Cancer Prevention Center, the New York Presbyterian Hospital – Cornell and served as the Chief of Surgical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The press release and President Biden's full statement can be found here.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a fact sheet that outlines a $5 billion investment into Project NextGen to coordinate across the federal government and private sector to increase the availability of FDA approved vaccines and therapeutics for the American public. You can read more about the program here.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced the allocation of $200 million to scale up the 988 suicide and crisis lifelines, as well as provide resources for school-based mental health services. The program concentrates on three key objectives: reinforcing the mental health workforce and systems, improving access to care for Americans, and establishing a comprehensive support system. The White House's full statement can be found here.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans temporarily halted a lower court's decision to overturn the requirement for all health plans to full cover some preventative health services under the Affordable Care Act. This adds to several previous challenges to the Obamacare health law as the case goes on to the conservative-leaning Fifth Circuit, where it could end up before the Supreme Court. Find more information on the Court ruling here. 

The Biden Administration and Congressional leadership continued meeting this week amid growing pressure to reach an agreement and avoid a default on the nation’s debt. Several weeks ago, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation raising the nation’s borrowing limit until next year and attached a number of policies to the bill designed to reduce the nation’s deficit. Initially, the President and Congressional Democratic leaders said they wanted a “clean” debt limit extension with no policy changes attached. However, in recent weeks, negotiations have heated up between the two sides and it is likely that any final agreement will include some of the GOP priorities. President Biden expressed confidence on Wednesday that negotiators would reach an agreement as he prepares to leave for a Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Japan. The President indicated that he will cut his trip short to return to the negotiations by early next week. Speaker McCarthy also told reporters that a deal this week is “doable”. Negotiations have narrowed to a small group of key negotiators on each side, and specific issues like Medicaid work requirements remain key policy differences.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a markup of bills on Wednesday, the 17^th. The legislation ranges from animal drug user fee reauthorization to lowering health care costs to workforce development. A complete list is available here. The majority of the bills considered by the committee passed by a voice vote including: H.R. 3281- the Transparent PRICE Act (includes oversight of PBMs, increases transparency in part D plan, and extends funding for community health centers and the National Health Service Corps, among others), H.R. 2544- the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act, and H.R. 3284, the Providers and Payers COMPETE Act. Bills related to value-based payments in Medicaid and transparency in the 340b program passed mostly along party lines. These bills will be considered on May 24^th by the full Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on Tuesday the 16^th regarding the lack of cost transparency in the current health system. The hearing: “Health Care Price Transparency: A Patient’s Right to Know” was the first of two Ways and Means hearings regarding rising costs for patients. The Health Subcommittee met Wednesday the 17^th in a hearing concerning the price of care, “Why Health Care is Unaffordable: Anticompetitive and Consolidated Markets”. That hearing focused on the benefits of price transparency and the role of Congress in protecting patients.

President Biden chose Dr. Bertagnoli as his nominee for Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Bertagnoli is currently the first female director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Previously, she worked as a surgeon at the Strang Cancer Prevention Center, the New York Presbyterian Hospital – Cornell, and served as the Chief of Surgical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Biden Administration said Dr. Bertagnolli has the “vision and leadership needed to deliver on NIH’s mission”. The full statement can be found here.

The initial $5 billion investment into Project NextGen will leverage public-private partnerships to streamline the development of the next generation of vaccines and treatments. The program plans to coordinate across the federal government and private sector to increase the availability of FDA approved vaccines and therapeutics for the American public. After COVID-19, the Biden-Harris Administration is working to address the continuous impact of COVID-19 as well as prevent against future epidemics. Read more about the program here.

Following the end of the public health emergency on May 12^th, CMS agreed to permit providers to continue billing CMS for telehealth services through the end of the calendar year. The extension comes after providers argued that they received insufficient notice that coverage of many telehealth services would end after the PHE closed on May 11. More details can be found here.

The Biden Administration announced $200 million will be allocated to scale up 988 suicide and crisis lifelines, as well as provide resources for school-based mental health services. The program concentrates on three key objectives: reinforcing the mental health workforce and systems, improving access to care for Americans, and establishing a comprehensive support system. These actions fall under the President’s Unity Agenda and continue the process of reframing how mental health is tackled in the national health care system. Read the complete White House statement here.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans’ Fifth Circuit temporarily halted a lower court decision to overturn the requirement for all health plans to fully cover some preventive health services under the Affordable Care Act. The previous ruling overturned popular Affordable Care Act requirements by eliminating costs for preventive services like depression screenings for teenagers and drugs that prevent the transmission of H.I.V. The earlier ruling threatened to affect 150 million Americans without the temporary pause while the decision is appealed. This adds to several previous challenges to the Obamacare health law as the case goes on to the Fifth Circuit. Find more information on the Court ruling here.

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs - Hearing

The Role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers in Prescription Drug Markets Part I: Self-Interest or Health Care?

Tuesday, May 23 at 10:00 AM ET