Conservatives launch anti-'Medicare for All' coalition Presented by

With help from Dan Goldberg, Sarah Owermohle, Adam Cancryn, Victoria Colliver and Rachel Roubein

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Quick Fix

— Conservative groups launched a new coalition to oppose 'Medicare for All' and similar proposals, seeking to pressure Democrats ahead of the election.

— A key House committee announced a surprise medical billing hearing next week, as bipartisan momentum builds for a legislative fix.

— Progressives are attacking House Democrats' emerging drug price plan, complaining that it's too timid on government price negotiations and that they've been shut out of the process.

A message from PhRMA: Today, there are several promising vaccine candidates in stage three clinical trials. These trials have tens of thousands of participants, from every walk of life. From development to robust clinical trials, and throughout manufacturing, these vaccine candidates follow the same rigorous process of other vaccines that have saved millions of lives. More.

THIS IS THURSDAY PULSE — Where research says you should let your kids enjoy the playground, but don't let them eat it. Tips to [email protected].

Driving the Day

JUST LAUNCHED: A NEW ANTI-MEDICARE FOR ALL COALITION — The Coalition Against Socialized Medicine is taking aim at Democrats' push for universal coverage, warning that proposals from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and others will hurt the economy and restrict patients' choices.

Socialized medicine is "a bad idea and one that we can’t afford," said Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which launched the coalition and a new website — NoSocializedMedicine.org.

— Also part of the coalition: FreedomWorks, the Club for Growth, Heritage Action for America, the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, American Commitment, and the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. The coalition will host events and make "considerable" ad buys to raise awareness of its message, a spokesperson told PULSE.

— The coalition is trying to hammer Democrats ahead of the 2020 election. Sanders has called for an end to private insurance, a message that's been backed by other presidential candidates and has been well-received by the party's progressive base.

But the proposals have lost steam in Congress, as centrist Democrats instead have focused on shoring up the Affordable Care Act. A handful of presidential candidates, including Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, have criticized Sanders' proposal as too disruptive.

COMING NEXT WEEK: E&C SURPRISE BILLING HEARING — The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee will hold a hearing Wednesday on how to protect patients from surprise medical bills.

“It is time for Congress to act to protect patients by developing a solution that takes patients out of the middle without increasing health care costs," Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Health Subcommittee Chairwoman Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) said in a statement.

— How we got here: Energy and Commerce leaders had been soliciting stakeholder feedback on a discussion draft released in mid-May. The draft proposed settling billing disputes by creating a minimum payment standard set to the median in-network rate for that area.

— There's bipartisan consensus on the need for a fix: But congressional committees are still deliberating on how to set up an arbitration process for settling payment disputes or to find another way of holding patients harmless, such as automatic payments based on a benchmark, POLITICO's Rachel Roubein and Renuka Rayasam reported earlier this week.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS CONFRONT DEEP DIVISIONS ON DRUG PRICING — Progressive Democrats are deeply skeptical of a tentative plan that would authorize government negotiation for a select set of drugs, and gripe that much of the rank and file is being shut out of the process, POLITICO's Adam Cancryn reports.

“People have not been included,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a progressive leader. “There has been no process up to now.”

— The tensions are delaying a drug price effort that threatens to drag into the fall, leaving a narrow window for a major health care win before the 2020 race swamps Washington.

Leadership allies are urging patience and assuring members they’ll ultimately get their say. But progressive Democrats left town this week on edge — with more than one unfavorably comparing the state of play to Republicans’ much-maligned attempt to hide their 2017 Obamacare repeal bill from the public and much of their own caucus.

Meanwhile: CSRxP touts finding that Americans are focused on drugmakers, skeptical about rebate rule. Nearly 60 percent of Americans blame the pharmaceutical industry for high drug prices, according to a Morning Consult poll funded by the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, a coalition including pharmacy benefit managers, health plans, doctors and hospitals.

Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents also expressed concern about estimated premium hikes for seniors in Medicare Part D if the administration’s proposed rebate rule went into effect.

In the Courts

"PULSE CHECK" podcast: KATIE KEITH on how the courts are deciding Obama and Trump's health care legacies. The Georgetown law professor and Health Affairs blogger joined POLITICO to discuss the legal effort to strike down Obamacare and the lawsuits facing Trump-era policies too. "We're doing health policy by litigation," Keith said.

She also discussed HHS' efforts to impose Medicaid work requirements, roll back LGBTQ protections and other controversial regulations. "I think the Trump administration has been quite bold, let's call it, in their approach," Keith said. Listen to this week's the Pulse Check podcast.

... On the podcast, Keith reviewed the influential role of U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, who has become the go-to judge for GOP attorneys general challenging Obama-era regulations. O'Connor ruled in December that the ACA was unconstitutional.

Today in San Francisco: Oral arguments in birth control lawsuit. The Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic order of nuns, want HHS rules that would roll back Obamacare's birth control mandate to go into effect. Courts in California and Pennsylvania issued orders halting the new rules, and the Little Sisters will make their case in front of a panel of appellate judges.

The Little Sisters have doggedly fought this issue for years, and have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case.

Researchers decry Trump decision on fetal tissue. The administration Wednesday barred NIH scientists from doing research using fetal tissue obtained from abortions and announced new reviews for federally funded projects.

HHS also canceled an HIV research contract with University of California, San Francisco. "We believe this decision to be politically motivated, shortsighted and not based on sound science," UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood said in a statement.

Scientists have said that fetal tissue is essential in researching vaccines and other therapies. More.

— Meanwhile: "VICTORY," declared David Daleiden, the anti-abortion activist whose Planned Parenthood videos sparked controversy about the production and use of fetal tissue. Anti-abortion advocates have spent years calling on HHS to end its use of fetal tissue obtained from abortion.

Daleiden and other advocates said they were expecting the Trump administration to further crack down on research funding.

— The decision was controversial inside the Trump administration, two officials with knowledge of the deliberations told POLITICO's Eliana Johnson and Dan Diamond. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and domestic policy chief Joe Grogan had pushed for the outright ban on NIH using fetal tissue obtained from abortion, while HHS Secretary Alex Azar had argued for a less restrictive policy.

The White House said that the administration was unified on its new fetal tissue policy. “This was the president’s decision, not a Joe Grogan or Alex Azar decision,” said deputy press secretary Judd Deere.

2020 Watch

JOE BIDEN's support of the Hyde amendment sparks Democratic backlash. Biden's stance underscores a generational and cultural divide that's separating the former vice president from the rest of the 2020 Democratic field, POLITICO's Alice Miranda Ollstein reports.

Other Democratic presidential candidates have vowed to repeal the amendment, which bans federal funding of abortion and is renewed annually through congressional spending bills.

— Biden is "absolutely wrong," said BETO O'ROURKE. "Perhaps he doesn't understand who the Hyde Amendment hurts the most...lower income communities, communities of color," O'Rourke said in an interview with CBSN. "I would ask that he rethink his position on this."

Planned Parenthood and other advocates also urged Biden to change his position.

— What Biden's campaign says: "The Hyde amendment does not prevent organizations in the U.S. that provide lifesaving health care services for women from receiving the federal funding they need," the campaign told POLITICO. "But given the current draconian attempts to limit access to abortion, if avenues for women to access their protected rights under Roe v. Wade are closed, he would be open to repeal."

In Congress

CHRIS MURPHY, BILL CASSIDY introduce measure to strengthen mental health parity. The Connecticut Democrat and the Louisiana Republican, who have teamed up on a series of mental health reforms, say that their bill will reduce administrative barriers that are limiting patient access.

"Our legislation will require insurance providers to give the same access to care for someone with a mental health diagnosis as they do for someone with a broken leg, and it will crack down on bad actors to make sure they do," Murphy said.

The American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and 54 other groups support the bill. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) plans to introduce companion legislation in the House.

A message from PhRMA: America’s biopharmaceutical companies are making great progress against a common enemy – COVID-19. They’re learning from successful vaccines for other diseases, developing new treatments and collaborating like never before. Today, there are several promising vaccine candidates in stage three clinical trials. These trials have tens of thousands of participants, from every walk of life. From development to robust clinical trials, and throughout manufacturing, these vaccine candidates follow the same rigorous process of other vaccines that have saved millions of lives. America’s biopharmaceutical companies are working day and night until they defeat COVID-19. Because science is how we get back to normal.

Inside the Humphrey Building

Coming soon: CMS to post list of troubled nursing homes. The agency will “soon” begin publicizing — and updating monthly — a list of roughly 400 nursing homes with poor performance, an announcement that comes two days after Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). published the previously undisclosed list.

It consists of about 400 candidates to participate in CMS’ Special Focus Facility Program, which increases federal oversight for nursing homes with higher instances of poor care. The names of the 88 facilities chosen for the program has been available, but the several hundred candidates for the program previously were unknown.

ICYMI: Block grant plan moves forward. The Trump administration's plan to let states overhaul their Medicaid programs by instituting block grants is under review by federal budget officials, a step that puts it closer to public release.

— States also positioning for eventual announcement. Alaska last week awarded a $100,000 contract to a consulting firm to study block grants and other conservative health reforms, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reports. Alaska's GOP governor has said that he wants his state to be the first to switch to Medicaid block-grant funding.

The move was decried by Democrats, who say the study's unnecessary because the outcome is known. If Alaska leaders want to reshape the Medicaid program, "they need to base it on actual information and legitimate studies and not just kind of create an excuse for them to do something they’ve predetermined to do," said state Rep. Zack Fields.

Around the Nation

North Carolina: Democrats sustain veto of "born-alive" bill. House Democrats sustained Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of so-called “born-alive" legislation, a measure that would have made it a felony for health care providers to fail to care for an infant who survives an abortion attempt.

The 67-53 vote followed roughly an hour of Republican House members arguing that the bill is not about abortion and has nothing to do with a woman's choice.

… Republicans and anti-abortion activists have pushed "Born Alive" bills as a way to paint Democrats as in favor of infanticide, a message they hope will resonate in 2020, POLITICO's Dan Goldberg reports. But Democrats have remained largely united on abortion rights, and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock — a presidential candidate — vetoed similar "born-alive" legislation in his state.

Names in the News

KIM HOLLAND joins Signify Health as SVP of government affairs. Holland previously served as the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association's VP of state affairs and as Oklahoma insurance commissioner.

With Brianna Ehley

Maryland lawmakers are concerned that CDC's protocol didn’t do enough to protect a student who died from adenovirus last fall, the Baltimore Sun's Christine Condon reports.

Opioid maker Insys Therapeutics has agreed to pay $225 million to settle allegations that it bribed doctors to illegally prescribe its highly addictive drug, the Washington Post's Eli Rosenberg reports.

The Washington Post's expose of Pfizer's decision to sit on Alzheimer's research data didn't tell the whole story, John Carroll writes at Endpoints News.

Children and young adults who consumed dietary supplements for weight loss, muscle building and energy appear to be at greater risk for serious medical events, according to a new Harvard study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

House Democrats are planning to hold an event examining the president’s mental health, the Washington Examiner's Kim Leonard reports.

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