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Happy return to Congress on Monday, everyone. On our radar this morning: The Food and Drug Administration will receive its first over-the-counter birth control application today (h/t NYT).
Today’s edition: A deep dive into Biden’s two-week struggle to respond to the Supreme Court’s reversal Roe v. Wade. The risk of re-infection with covid-19 increases due to the BA.5 subvariant. But first…
Medicare affordability and drug prices have a place in the Democrats’ economic package
The race to pass a long-delayed economic package this month is on.
Momentum — and optimism — has built in recent weeks as party leaders try to reach a compromise with Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) on a package that could be introduced before the August recess. Several key health issues remain unresolved, although Senate Democrats recently reached agreements on efforts to lower prescription drug prices for seniors and improve Medicare’s finances.
For months, concern has been growing among Democrats and advocates about what failure to pass such a package could mean for the party in the midterm elections. Any such bill would be much smaller than the roughly $2 trillion package the House passed last fall, but party leaders are eager to give their members a victory to take back to voters before November.
Today, we assess the status of several potential components of the health care package.
Resolved: Plan to increase Medicare solvency
Manchin expressed concern about the program’s shaky financial outlook for the elderly and disabled. Last week, Senate Democrats finalized a plan aimed at assuaging some of Manchin’s concerns, a key part of retooling the finish line package, our colleague Tony Romm reported.
Democrats are seeking to impose taxes on high-income Americans who would pay a 3.8 percent tax if they owned a type of business called a pass-through. It would close a tax loophole condemned by Democrats and help sustain a critical Medicare trust fund through 2031.
On the Move: Democrats’ Drug Pricing Proposal
In a sign of renewed pressure over the package, Senate Democrats sent a new version of the party’s drug pricing bill to the Senate floor last week. It’s a crucial piece of the reconciliation puzzle, as the lawmaker serves as an arbiter of what policies can be included in the quick budget maneuver Democrats want to use to push their economic plan without any GOP votes.
Manchin has consistently supported allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, which also serves as a key way to pay for the economic package. The new drug pricing agreement would reduce the deficit by nearly $288 billion over a decade, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released Friday.
NEW: For the first time in months, Democrats see hope for a spending deal with Manchin when Congress returns. It won’t be easy and they may stumble again, but they will try in July. Our review: https://t.co/u0Dy2rH4x5
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) July 10, 2022
Undecided: Extending Obamacare’s enhanced subsidies
Rank-and-file Democrats are urging the party to avoid a major headache during the midterm elections. Millions of Americans may soon learn that their health insurance premiums will rise significantly if Democrats fail to extend Obamacare’s increased subsidies that expire at the end of the year.
Manchin personally rejected initial plans to extend the financial aid, Toney reports, although there are discussions to reduce eligibility for tax credits based on a person’s income.
Unclear status: Proposal to close the Medicaid coverage gap
Medicaid advocates hope to secure the inclusion of a plan to expand the safety net program in a dozen states where GOP officials have long rejected Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. But it’s unclear whether such a policy will make it into the package, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Manchin are still haggling over other unrelated policies. Manchin has long said he would not support high-cost legislation.
Some policy advocates are increasing the urgency in light of the Supreme Court’s overturning of the ruling Roe v. Wade. Protect Our Care, a Democratic advocacy group, plans to issue memos to Capitol Hill this week on the need to extend Obamacare’s expanded tax credits and close the Medicaid coverage gap, arguing that both are key to helping women have access to other reproductive and maternity care.
- Abortion bans combined with the lack of Medicaid expansion “impact women of color and their families, leaving them without coverage and at risk of severe birth outcomes,” the group wrote in one of the memos shared with The Health 202.
- Meanwhile … five prominent groups — such as the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the NAACP — wrote a letter to Democratic leaders last week with a similar message.
Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation:
Expanding ACA assistance to avoid premium shock is getting more attention. But coverage of people in poverty in states that did not expand Medicaid under the ACA is also a problem. https://t.co/TvI1tQH07F
— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) July 7, 2022
📅 Here’s what else we’re looking at during this period of Congress work
This is the first week MPs will be back after the Supreme Court was abrogated Rowe. This week, the House is set to vote on legislation to protect the right to travel out of state for an abortion. And the House will also vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act – a codification bill Roweprotections in a federal law that the House already passed in September.
- Why another vote? The rationale, according to a senior Democratic aide: It shows House Democrats’ commitment to abortion rights while “further exposure[ing] GOP extremism,” as Republicans are almost certain to vote against the measure amid conservative states enacting their own abortion bans.
Can the Senate Pass a Bipartisan Insulin Bill? The insulin measures were taken from Democrats’ broader drug pricing proposal, such as a $35 monthly cap on the life-saving drug for patients with private insurance or Medicare. It comes amid a push for bipartisan insulin legislation by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (DN.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
- A Shaheen aide said they expect minimal action on the legislation during this work period. Still, the pair face an uphill battle as they seek to secure the support of 10 Republicans.
Schumer tested positive for the coronavirus and will work remotely this week as lawmakers return from a two-week recess. He has been vaccinated and had two boosters and has “very mild” symptoms, according to a spokesman.
“Anyone who knows Leader Schumer knows that even if he is not physically at the Capitol, through virtual meetings and his trademark flip phone, he will continue to maintain his robust schedule and remain in near-constant contact with his colleagues.” , spokesman Justin Goodman said in a statement.
In Roe’s response to the White House
Our colleagues Ashley Parker, Yasmin Abutaleb and Tyler Pager spoke with 26 senior White House officials, Democratic lawmakers, abortion rights activists, Democratic strategists and other Biden allies to explain what it’s like inside the White House as Roe v. Wade was cancelled.
Officials took a cautious approach, staying away from any reactions that could be legally vulnerable, but disappointing progressive activists who were deeply upset by what they saw as a timid response at a monumental moment:
- During a call with activists just hours after the decision, administration officials reiterated promises made by Biden earlier in the day, such as providing abortion pills and protecting women who cross state lines. It was not the impassioned call to action and detailed road map activists were expecting.
- White House officials have evaluated a proposal to build abortion clinics on federal lands. But they found that while they could protect federal employees who used that option, they couldn’t protect other women or providers once they left federal land, putting them at legal risk.
- Some in the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services have supported the idea of declaring a public health emergency, but other aides and agency officials have warned that it could backfire.
But … Biden told reporters yesterday that he is considering whether to consider declaring abortion access a public health emergency, The Post’s Matt Wieser reports.
Nancy Cook, White House correspondent for Bloomberg News:
NEWS: Just before his bike ride, the president stopped to speak and said he had asked his administrator to look into emergency access to abortion for public health and said he had not yet made a decision on Chinese tariffs. (He and his aides had a meeting about the tariffs on Friday) pic.twitter.com/UIGlf4ysX0
— Nancy Cook (@nancook) July 10, 2022
White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield appeared to counter the criticism in this statement given to our colleagues:
“Joe Biden’s Target in Response to Dobbs it is not to satisfy some activists who are consistently out of step with the Democratic mainstream. It’s about getting help to women who are in danger and putting together a broad coalition to protect a woman’s right to choose now, just as he put together such a coalition to win during the 2020 campaign,” said she.
The White House has begun planning for a possible overthrow of the Rowe last summer ashley, yasmin and tyler write. Biden appointed Jennifer Klein, director of the Gender Equality Policy Council, and White House adviser Dana Remus to lead a response team.
As BA.5 dominates, the risk of reinfection increases
The latest omicron subvariant, BA.5, is causing a wave of cases across the country because of its elusiveness when encountering the human immune system, The Post’s Joel Achenbach reports.
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