With Congress and many state legislatures in full swing, there’s a lot of healthcare policy news to keep on your radar. It’s a busy week for the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, in particular.
PBM reform: Sens. Bernie Sanders and Bill Cassidy, who lead the committee, proposed a legislative package of four bills that will “reform pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and expand the availability of low-cost generic drugs,” according to an April 25 statement. This package is the latest move targeting PBM on Capitol Hill. One of the bills in the package, the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Act, would change how PBMs operate by imposing transparency measures and ensuring PBMs pass along 100% of the rebates they collect from drugmakers to health plans. The next committee hearing takes place today, and the committee will hear from pharmaceutical executives on May 10.
Pandemic preparedness: The Covid-19 public health emergency is coming to an end on May 11, and the Senate HELP Committee is already preparing for the next public health emergency. Congress plans to reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which authorizes funding for public health and medical preparedness programs, when it expires on Sept. 30. The committee will hear comments this week on how to improve the program.
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One of the changes the American Hospital Association (AHA) would like to see is an increase in “federal investments to strengthen the national supply chain,” according to its comments on the bill.
“We support increased investments to maintain consistent access to medical supplies for hospitals and the entire health care system. This would include increasing manufacturing redundancy, diversifying where raw materials are produced and where products are manufactured and building capacity within the overall supply chain,” according to the AHA.
A potential win: Maine is poised to have some of the least restrictive abortion laws in the country. A bill making its way through the state legislature this week would allow abortions anytime prior to birth if a physician deems it necessary. Current Maine laws allow abortion up to around 24 weeks into the pregnancy, when a fetus is considered able to survive outside the uterus, or if the health of the person who is pregnant is at risk. This bill would also strengthen legal protections for abortion providers.
The bill is likely to pass in the Democrat-controlled state legislature, The Associated Press reported.