Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

The Top Three...

With so much going on, it can be hard to know what to read.  If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Hill: Biden’s Biodefense Strategy Aims To Combat Future Pandemics The White House on Tuesday released its national biodefense strategy, outlining President Biden’s plan to protect the U.S. from future pandemics and biological threats. The plan, which utilizes 20 federal agencies, aims to detect early warnings of pandemics and biological threats, prevent epidemics and biological incidents and prepare to reduce the impacts of epidemics. (Gangitano, 10/18)

Politico: ‘No Quick Fixes’: Walensky’s Push For Change At CDC Meets Reality The CDC’s new push to get information about health crises out faster to Americans is already running up against its limited authority, congressional inaction and the agency’s own entrenched culture. (Mahr and Banco, 10/21)

Fierce Healthcare: New Biden Order Wants Payment Models To Tackle Drug Prices President Biden is calling for new payment and delivery models that will lower drug prices in a new executive order. The order released Friday calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to craft a report outlining the payment models that will test how to improve access to innovative drugs and lower costs for those in Medicare and Medicaid. While the order doesn’t grant any new authorities to HHS, it underscores the administration’s next steps in lowering drug prices. (10/14)

For a Deeper Dive...

Axios: Poll: Voters May Cross Party Lines For Lower Health Care Costs Almost 40% of Americans are willing to split their ticket and vote for a candidate from the opposing party who made a top priority of lowering health costs, according to a Gallup/West Health poll published Thursday. (Knight, 10/20)

Healthcare Dive: HHS needs to update strategic national stockpile procedures, GAO report says The HHS’ current management of the strategic national stockpile and its subsequent relaying of information to Congress is fractured and needs updates to ensure the country is prepared for future public health emergencies, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.  The GAO analysis ultimately found that current stockpiles hold most of the recommended medical supplies, but often not in the recommended quantities. (Mensik, 10/18)

AP: Biden Administration Seeks To Expand 24/7 Mental Health Care The government announced plans Tuesday to award millions of dollars in grants to expand all-hours mental health and substance abuse care in more communities around the country. “Today we’re talking about providing to Americans 24/7 support for crisis care,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “That’s something that’s only been available to some, in some places. But depending on your income and ZIP code, you could be totally out of luck. That’s going to start to change.” (Seitz, 10/19)

NPR: Health Department Medical Detectives Find 84% Of U.S. Maternal Deaths Are Preventable For several weeks a year, the work of nurse-midwife Karen Sheffield-Abdullah is really detective work. She and a team of other medical investigators with the North Carolina public health department scour the hospital records and coroner reports of new moms who died after giving birth. (Dembosky, 10/21)

KHN: After Congress Fails To Add Dental Coverage, Medicare Weighs Limited Benefit Expansion Proposed changes in Medicare rules could soon pave the way for a significant expansion in Medicare-covered dental services, while falling short of the comprehensive benefits that many Democratic lawmakers have advocated. That’s because, under current law, Medicare can pay for limited dental care only if it is medically necessary to safely treat another covered medical condition. In July, officials proposed adding conditions that qualify and sought public comment. Any changes could be announced in November and take effect as soon as January. (Jaffe, 10/17)

The Washington Post: CDC Officials Describe Intense Pressure, Job Threats From Trump White House Former CDC director Robert Redfield, former top deputy Anne Schuchat and others described how the Trump White House and its allies repeatedly “bullied” staff, tried to rewrite their publications and threatened their jobs in an attempt to align the CDC with the more optimistic view of the pandemic espoused by Donald Trump, the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis concluded in a report released Monday. Several public health officials detailed a months-long campaign against Schuchat sparked by Trump appointees’ belief that her grim assessments of the pandemic reflected poorly on the president, leading Schuchat, a 32-year CDC veteran, to openly wonder if she would be fired in the summer of 2020, her colleagues told the panel. (Diamond, 10/17)

The Washington Post: Hearing Aids Are Going Retail With Lower Costs And Easier Access The government on Monday will begin allowing pharmacies and big-box stores to sell hearing aids without prescriptions, a move that is expected to shake up an industry that has long been dominated by a handful of manufacturers under a model of care that critics said raised costs and stifled innovation. (Rowland and Morris, 10/16)

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