*{box-sizing:border-box}body{margin:0;padding:0}a[x-apple-data-detectors]{color:inherit!important;text-decoration:inherit!important}#MessageViewBody a{color:inherit;text-decoration:none}p{line-height:inherit}.desktop_hide,.desktop_hide table{mso-hide:all;display:none;max-height:0;overflow:hidden}.image_block img+div{display:none} @media (max-width:620px){.desktop_hide table.icons-outer{display:inline-table!important}.image_block div.fullWidth{max-width:100%!important}.mobile_hide{display:none}.row-content{width:100%!important}.stack .column{width:100%;display:block}.mobile_hide{min-height:0;max-height:0;max-width:0;overflow:hidden;font-size:0}.desktop_hide,.desktop_hide table{display:table!important;max-height:none!important}.reverse{display:table;width:100%}.reverse .column.first{display:table-footer-group!important}.reverse .column.last{display:table-header-group!important}.row-10 td.column.first .border,.row-8 td.column.first .border{padding:5px 5px 15px 25px;border-top:0;border-right:0;border-bottom:0;border-left:0}.row-10 td.column.last .border,.row-12 td.column.last .border,.row-8 td.column.last .border{padding:5px 20px 25px 5px;border-top:0;border-right:0;border-bottom:0;border-left:0}.row-12 td.column.first .border{padding:5px 5px 15px 25px;border-top:0;border-right:0;border-bottom:15px solid transparent;border-left:0}} Click in for more news from The Hill{beacon}
Health Care
Health Care
The Big Story
Biden touts drug pricing action with help from Bernie Sanders
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined President Biden at the White House Wednesday to tout progress they’ve made at lowering drug costs, especially for common medicines like inhalers and insulin.
© AP
“Bernie, you and I have been fighting this for 25 years," Biden said. "Finally, finally we beat Big Pharma.”
Biden talked up his efforts to cap the costs of insulin at $35 a month for people on Medicare, as well as requiring drug companies to negotiate prices with Medicare for the first time ever. He credited Sanders with helping to shepherd drug pricing legislation through Congress.
Earlier this year, Sanders and several Democratic colleagues criticized four major inhaler manufacturers — AstraZeneca, GSK, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer — for having significantly higher prices in the U.S. than elsewhere.
Since then, one inhaler manufacturer has nixed patents, and three of the largest inhaler manufacturers said they plan to cap the cost of inhalers for many patients at $35 a month.
Biden pledged to build on his current measures, including a shared goal with Sanders of capping health care costs at $2,000 annually for all Americans, not just those on Medicare.
“With Bernie’s help, we’re showing how health care ought to be a right, not a privilege in America,” Biden said.
The president’s appearance with Sanders was part of a broader election-year focus by the Biden campaign on health costs. Biden has sought to highlight Democrats’ efforts to lower drug prices, but polls have shown most voters are unaware of those efforts.
The joint appearance aimed to tap into Sanders’s populism.
The Vermont senator has a history of naming and shaming pharma CEOs for their pricing tactics, and as chairman of the Senate Health Committee he has extracted a promise of no insulin price hikes from the CEO of Eli Lilly, as well as a pledge from the CEO of Moderna that nobody would have to pay out pocket for the company’s COVID-19 shot.
Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.
Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
Essential Reads
How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:
White House warns House conservatives’ budget could hurt opioid epidemic fight
The White House called out the Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) budget proposal for potentially cutting funding of programs addressing the opioid crisis. In a new fact sheet first obtained by The Hill, the White House breaks down how the RSC plan would cut the nondefense budget by about 30 percent, arguing that figure would include cuts to states’ overdose epidemic response effort. The budget proposal by the RSC, which …
Full Story ‘I wouldn’t put my damn daughter in these’: Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ lurk in feminine products
This is the first story in a series, “Fighting ‘Forever Chemicals’: Women face pervasive PFAS risks.” Jessian Choy had worn Thinx menstrual underwear for years before she learned they contained “forever chemicals.” “I had always known that anything water, grease and stain resistant could have toxic PFAS chemicals in them because of my day job at the time,” said Choy, who was working in San Francisco’s …
Full Story Rare bird flu infection nothing to panic over: Texas agriculture commissioner
The recent infection of a Texas dairy worker with H5N1 bird flu isn’t cause for panic, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told The Hill in an interview Wednesday. The human case of bird flu is only the second confirmed infection in the U.S., and it comes as the virus is spreading among cows in at least five states. Miller ordered the temporary closure of the Cal-Maine Foods egg production plant in Farwell, Texas, Tuesday …
Full Story On Our Radar
Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:
- The Tennessee Twelfth Judicial District Court on Thursday will hear arguments in a case in which several women claim they were denied medically necessary abortions due to the state's near-total ban on the procedure.
In Other News
Branch out with a different read:
Insurance trends are deciding where Americans will live as planet heats
Climate change and generations of U.S. housing and development policy are making homes, neighborhoods, and entire municipalities riskier to insure, undermining the ability of Americans to live where they choose.
Full Story Around the Nation
Local and state headlines on health care:
- Florida Democrats warn Biden against politicizing abortion ballot effort (Politico)
- GOP nominee for special Michigan House election says he opposes abortion ‘without exception’ (Michigan Advance)
- Medicaid expansion will be up for debate in 2025 legislative session, and its future is uncertain (Daily Montanan)
What We're Reading
Health news we've flagged from other outlets:
- The federal government will now offer its employees generous fertility benefits (The 19th News/KFF Health News)
- What we know about H5N1 bird flu in cows — and the risk to humans (Stat)
- In a first, FDA authorizes AI-driven test to predict sepsis in hospitals (The Washington Post)
What Others are Reading
Most read stories on The Hill right now:
Hush money judge rejects Trump’s immunity claims as untimely
A New York judge rejected former President Trump’s presidential immunity claims in his hush money case Wednesday, saying Trump waited too long to raise … Read more
Here’s where the Biden-Trump polls stand in 7 swing states
The battle between President Biden and former President Trump is ramping up with the general election for the White House now underway. Biden and Trump … Read more
You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!
Close Thank you for signing up!
Subscribe to more newsletters here
The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Health Care newsletter Subscribe
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Donald Low
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
visit website
