Summary
With a mere 14 weeks to go before the presidential election, this morning we find ourselves without an official Democratic candidate! President Joe Biden withdrew from the race yesterday afternoon and has endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee. In the next two weeks the Democratic party is expected to take a virtual roll call vote of the 3900 delegates to decide a new nominee. Notable party leaders, potential running mates, state party delegations and Congressional Democrats have all endorsed Harris, and as the only candidate that can tap into the campaign war chest that the Biden-Harris campaign has built it will be a steep hill for any challenger to climb. But, if Harris does not secure the majority of the 3900 delegate votes, the upcoming Democratic convention will be an open convention where delegates decide who to nominate. An unprecedented time in modern American politics, the next several days and weeks will be important in shaping both the Democratic party and the election.
The House comes back into session today and the Senate returns tomorrow for the final two weeks before the August recess. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a joint Congressional address on Wednesday afternoon and the House leadership continues to push movement on fiscal year (FY) 2025 appropriations bills.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is expected to meet with both House and Senate leaders, as well as President Biden and Vice President Harris. A number of Democrats, most notably Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have stated they will not attend the speech over Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza following the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
Also this week, House leadership will continue to try and move appropriations bills on the House floor, including the Energy & Water, Interior, Financial Services and Agriculture bills. The goal to move all 12 bills through the floor before the August recess hit a snag when the Legislative bill failed to pass earlier this month. With the notoriously difficult Labor-HHS bill and the politically charged Commerce-Justice-Science bills still to go, it may prove difficult to get through all 12 bills on schedule.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to continue marking up their FY 2025 bills this week with the Commerce-Justice-Science, State and Foreign Operations, and Transportation-HUD bills. At the end of this week, the Committee will have marked up 6 of the 12 bills.
Hearings and Markups
House Oversight and Accountability Committee: On Tuesday the House Oversight and Accountability Committee will hold a hearing to examine Pharmacy Benefit Managers’ (PBMs) role as middlemen in rising health care costs, focusing on anticompetitive policies which can potentially increase prescription drug costs, hurt independent pharmacies, and harm patient care.
House Administration Committee: On Tuesday the House Administration Committee will hold a hearing title “Congress in a Post-Chevron World.”
House Energy & Commerce Committee: On Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee will hold a hearing to examine the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) current priorities and hear directly from CDC officials what steps the agency is taking to regain public trust.
Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee: On Wednesday the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a markup of several AI and cybersecurity bills, including: S. 4495, Promoting Responsible Evaluation and Procurement to Advance Readiness for Enterprise-wide Deployment (PREPARED) for Artificial Intelligence Act; S. 4630, Streamlining Federal Cybersecurity Regulations Act; S. 4697, Healthcare Cybersecurity Act of 2024; and S. 4715, Federal Cyber Workforce Training Act of 2024.
Other Recent Announcements
- Medicare Data: The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its annual data book, “Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program.” The data include information about national health care and Medicare spending, Medicare beneficiary demographics, Medicare beneficiary and other payer financial liability, dual-eligible beneficiaries, alternative payment models, acute inpatient services, ambulatory care, post-acute care, Medicare Advantage, prescription drugs, and other services.
- ACA Marketplace Survey: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published the Final 2024 Call Letter for the Quality Rating System (QRS) and Qualified Health Plan Enrollee Experience Survey (QHP Enrollee Survey). The document communicates CMS’ finalized refinements to the QRS and QHP Enrollee Survey programs. No changes are being made at this time to CMS regulations; instead, the refinements apply to QRS and QHP Enrollee Survey program operations, to the QRS measure set, and revisions to the QHP Enrollee Survey protocol.
Regulatory Update
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is currently reviewing the following rules:
Medicare
- Fiscal Year (FY) Payment Updates – The FY 2025 final rules for hospitals and long-term care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, hospice providers, psychiatric facilities (August 2024).
Medicaid
- Drug Rebate Program – The final rule would establishes requirements related to manufacturers’ misclassification of covered outpatient drug products under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (MDRP). In addition, it finalizes beneficiary protections, as well as MDRP program integrity and administration changes (June 2024).
Private Insurance
- ACA Marketplace – The proposed rule would set payment parameters and provisions related to the risk adjustment programs; cost-sharing parameters; and user fees for issuers offering plans on Federally-facilitated Exchanges and State-based Exchanges using the Federal platform. It would also provide additional standards for several other ACA programs (September 2024).
Other Topics:
- Healthcare System Resiliency and Modernization – The proposed rule would revise and update national emergency preparedness requirements for Medicare- and Medicaid-participating providers and suppliers (was set for December 2023).
- Tobacco Control – The final rule would prohibit the sale of tobacco products to persons younger than 21 years of age (was set for April 2024).
- Retail Pharmacy Standards – The final rule would require pharmacies and vendors to modify the currently adopted National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) standards to the Telecommunications Standard Implementation Guide Version F6 (F6); Batch Standard Implementation Guide version 15; and Batch Standard Subrogation Implementation Guide version 10 (was set for February 2024).