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Hello and happy Thursday! I hope you can take a moment today for some spooky fun amid the pre-election madness. Now is a great time to subscribe to STAT+ and receive full access on our best stories and events with a 40% discount. News tips and opinions on the best Halloween candy (the correct answer is Dots) are always welcome (email protected).
Three calls in one pod
Three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit questioned lawsuits filed by Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca against the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug bargaining program. It is the first appeals court hearing on drug makers’ lawsuits. A subdistrict judge ruled against the companies.
The issues the judges asked about included:
- How much time companies should give to leave the negotiation program
- Whether the government can bind medicines from the same company together in purchasing negotiations
- Why Congress hasn’t written the prices into law itself
- Whether Medicare acts as both a regulator and a buyer of the drugs
- Whether conditions in a government contract can be considered a violation of the right to freedom of expression.
Ultimately, if the courts are divided in their rulings, the Supreme Court is more likely to hear the case.
Presidential candidates deliver closing arguments on supporting healthcare providers
In the final sprint to Election Day, both Vice President Harris and former President Trump promise to provide assistance to caregivers, a an estimated 53 million voters and grow.
Trump again brought up tax breaks for long-term care providers at a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, after unveiling the proposal this weekend at his event at Madison Square Garden, notes DCD co-writer Sarah Owermohle.
He said Harris “copied” him when she too pledged support for healthcare providers at an event in Washington DC on Tuesday evening. But what Harris seemed to mean was her own ‘Medicare at home” planlaunched earlier this month. That proposal would provide Medicare coverage for home health care on a sliding scale based on seniors’ needs and incomes. Harris proposed the program (conservative expects it $40 billion a year) would be funded by having the Medicare program negotiate prices for more drugs. (Trump has not yet discussed who would qualify for his plan, or how it would be funded).
But both candidates have reasons to compete for the votes of a large and growing segment of the U.S. population, the so-called “sandwich generation,” which is faced with caring for elderly relatives. In the important battleground state of Pennsylvania, for example, AARP Poll suggests that a third of voters identify themselves as healthcare providers. In North Carolina, where both candidates rallied Wednesday, 1 in 4 voters say they are caregivers and most voters over 50 say they would choose a candidate with a support plan.
Chiropractors for RFK
The Make America Healthy Again movement has a new super PAC called the MAHA Alliance, and one group is dominating the committee’s early donors: chiropractors.
In the group’s first campaign finance reports, 26 of the 51 initial donors were chiropractors. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign nodded to chiropractors as a basis for support and even sales Bumper stickers “Chiropractors for Kennedy”.. Chiropractors have been complaining about it for some time hostility from the medical establishmentand some relied on disinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Of the other donors, one was Robert Malone, a physician who gained fame by spreading misinformation about Covid-19, and claimed to play a role in the development of the Covid-19 vaccines. Another, Merily Pompa, pleaded guilty to stealing from the trust fund of children she and her husband – also a chiropractor – adopted.
The spirit of past elections
There has been a storm (again) over the Affordable Care Act this past week video obtained by NBC from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stating that health care reform will be “a very big part of the agenda” for the House GOP next year. The video also shows a confusing discussion between an event attendee and Johnson about whether changes to the Affordable Care Act would be on the table.
First, Johnson was asked some very strange questions about HSAs and direct primary care. He said the desire for health care reform is no secret, and that the GOP Doctors’ Caucus has given him a laundry list of reform ideas. Doc Caucus Co-Chair Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said, “Members of the Caucus have proposed legislation focused on prevention and education, access to care and price transparency. By making improvements in these areas, we can ensure that our healthcare policies focus on the value of a healthy human life.”
Johnson also spoke of taking “a blow to the regulatory state”, and denounced agencies being weaponized against people.
“No Obamacare?” one participant then asked. “No Obamacare,” Johnson said, rolling his eyes. “The ACA is so entrenched that we need massive reforms to make it work.”
Some news reports have done that characterized that exchange as an indication that Johnson wants to completely abolish the Affordable Care Act. His office says he was trying to say the opposite.
“Despite the unfair characterizations from the Harris campaign, the audio and transcript make clear that I made no such promise to end Obamacare, and in fact acknowledged that the policy is ‘deeply ingrained’ in our healthcare system. Yet House Republicans will always seek to reduce costs and improve the quality and availability of health care for all Americans,” Johnson said in a written statement.
Regardless of how you read these off-the-cuff comments, there are a few bits of context to keep in mind. Trump’s campaign disavowed ACA repeal, and others Figures from Trumpworld Clearly, repeal and replacement is not a top priority. Democrats are also always keen to say that the Affordable Care Act as a whole is under threat because it is a winning political discussion for them.
The FDA shortage story
All doses of Novo Nordisk’s successful diabetes and obesity treatments are listed as available, meaning they can be taken off the agency’s drug shortage list, STAT says. Elaine Chen reports.
If the drugs are taken off the shortage list, it is unclear whether the FDA will ban compounding companies from continuing to make copies of the drug, given the agency burned by reversing a similar situation with Eli Lilly drugs.
What we read
- Hassan and Cassidy prepare a location-neutral framework, Axios
- First Opinion: The Progressive Campaign Against Biomedical Innovation, STAT
- Court ruling threatens to restrict billions in political ‘dark money’ The Wall Street Journal
- Eli Lilly rarely gets into trouble because sales and profits are disappointing, STAT