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President Biden said Tuesday that he took important steps during his meeting last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States, but that he will have to verify that the Chinese follow through. Biden and Xi met in San Francisco during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, and the White House said their conversations on the deadly opioid fentanyl was a top deliverable out of the talks. Biden reiterated Tuesday that he “made important progress” during his meeting with Xi, as well as with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. (Gangitano, 11/21)

President Joe Biden pressed lawmakers to approve more funding and tighten laws to help block fentanyl trafficking, following his agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to crack down on the deadly drug. Biden on Tuesday heralded an agreement with Xi, who pledged during their summit last week to carry out a law-enforcement campaign against Chinese fentanyl components, and his talks with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on stopping the flow of drugs across the southwest border. (Jacobs, 11/21)

The Biden administration is walking a political tightrope with its plan to impose minimum staffing levels on nursing homes.  The White House is facing criticism from the left and the right, and the proposal is dividing Democrats, especially some front-line members facing a difficult reelection in 2024. Those lawmakers, mostly from rural areas, argue that the proposal is too strict and would force nursing homes to close.  (Meyn, 11/22)

Medicare Advantage insurers are already finding ways to skirt new federal regulations designed to ease beneficiary access to medical care, according to the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals. ... Citing a notice UnitedHealthcare sent hospitals Oct. 30 outlining its coverage policies for 2024, however, the hospital trade groups says insurers are not complying and continue to set higher bars for coverage than the regulation allows. (Bennett, 11/21)

A new law is poised to cap seniors’ prescription drug costs covered under Medicare, starting in 2025. But retirees may be in for a shock next year — significantly higher Medicare Part D premiums for prescription drug coverage. (Konish, 11/21)

Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on Tuesday mounted a public pressure campaign to get the executives of Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol Myers Squibb to testify in a January hearing on why the United States pays more for prescription drugs than other countries. (Cohrs, 11/21)

A House committee that has sparred with the Biden administration over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the virus’ origins is delving back into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s role. The Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Nov. 30 with CDC Director Mandy Cohen, who assumed the leadership post this summer. While this is far from the first time the GOP-controlled panel has interrogated the CDC’s pandemic work, it will be the first time Cohen appears before them. (Owermohle, 11/21)

The pharmaceutical industry’s leading lobbying organization contributed $7.5 million to the American Action Network last year, a group linked to House Republicans, according to an analysis of 2022 tax forms. It’s the most PhRMA has ever given to the group in a year, though the network has received $34.5 million in PhRMA cash since 2010, according to Issue One, a campaign finance reform advocacy group. (Wilson and Oprysko, 11/21)

Congress’ failure to include extra aid money for low-income moms and babies in last week’s spending bill sets up a potential showdown early next year. At stake: whether the government will have to begin turning away large numbers of mothers and their children from the program, known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, breaking with decades of precedent. (Brown and Lee Hill, 11/21)