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The lame-duck Congress is making slow progress on its long to-do-before-the-end-of-the-year list. Democrats agreed to lift the covid-19 vaccine mandate for the military as part of the big defense authorization bill, but efforts to ease federal restrictions on marijuana didn鈥檛 succeed.
Meanwhile, the fight against high drug prices has spread to employers, which are trying a variety of strategies to spend less on prescription drugs while still giving workers access to needed medications.
This week鈥檚 panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call.
Among the takeaways from this week鈥檚 episode:
- The race to the holiday break is on, with no agreement so far on spending as current government funding is set to expire on Dec. 16. Although another continuing resolution is expected, it would likely leave out measures such as addressing mental health, so lawmakers would need to start over next year. The annual defense authorization bill is also in the works and would end the military鈥檚 covid vaccine mandate.
- In the wake of the infant formula shortage, an FDA advisory group report this week said the agency鈥檚 work on food regulation needs a major overhaul, especially when it comes to enforcement power and leadership.
- In drug pricing news, Americans can expect to see the costs of covid testing, vaccines, and treatments rise as federal subsidies run out and leave the pandemic response subject to the same cost and access disparities common to the nation鈥檚 health care system. Meanwhile, entrepreneur Mark Cuban鈥檚 discount prescription drugs company is teaming up with EmsanaRx, a nonprofit pharmacy benefit manager 鈥� thereby cutting out for-profit PBMs in another attempt to cut costs for patients.
- Health care providers are pushing Congress to stop a long-planned cut in Medicare payments, while a new report from 麻豆女优 shows the three largest for-profit hospital chains are seeing operating margins that exceed pre-pandemic levels. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also issued new rules this week on 鈥減rior authorization鈥� that providers say could temper the bureaucratic hassle of dealing with Medicare. And private equity firms are getting into the game of running clinical trials, while in insurance, UnitedHealth Group is buying up providers.
- On reproductive health, an Alabama woman is suing the county government that jailed her on the suspicion she had exposed her fetus to drugs. Her issue? She was not pregnant. The case raises questions about how changes to abortion access are playing out across the country.
Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too:
Julie Rovner: The AP Stylebook鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� by The Associated Press
Anna Edney: The Washington Post鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� by Lenny Bernstein and Jordan-Marie Smith
Joanne Kenen: Columbia Journalism Review鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� by Becca Andrews
Sandhya Raman: CQ Roll Call鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� by Sandhya Raman
Also mentioned in this week鈥檚 podcast:
- KHN鈥檚 鈥�Paxlovid Has Been Free So Far. Next Year, Sticker Shock Awaits,鈥� by Hannah Recht
- KHN鈥檚 鈥�The Business of Clinical Trials Is Booming. Private Equity Has Taken Notice,鈥� by Rachana Pradhan
- 麻豆女优鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� by Scott Hulver, Zachary Levinson, and Jamie Godwin
- Reuters鈥� 鈥�,鈥� by Hassan Kanu
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