The Kellyanne Conway convoy

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Dec 13, 2023 View in browser   By Ben Leonard and Chelsea Cirruzzo Presented by With Megan R. Wilson and Alice Miranda Ollstein Driving The Day Former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway is pushing GOP lawmakers to advocate for easy access to birth control. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images EX-TRUMP OFFICIAL TELLS GOP TO TALK PRO-CONTRACEPTION — Kellyanne Conway, a former top aide for President Donald Trump, will visit Capitol Hill on Wednesday to push Republicans to say and do more to promote access to birth control ahead of the 2024 election, Alice reports. She’ll warn them that failing to do so will risk losing voters and confirming arguments from the left that the party that outlawed abortion in much of the country is coming next for contraception. Conway, former senior counselor to Trump, will head into those meetings armed with a new poll her firm conducted that shows overwhelming public support — including from Republicans and people who identify as “pro-life” — for policies that make contraception cheaper and more available. Conway plans to tell Capitol Hill Republicans they “will lose precious political currency and votes” if they do nothing or take steps to put contraception further out of reach — pointing to the poll’s finding that nearly half of conservative women “would consider voting for a candidate from a different political party” if Republicans back birth-control restrictions. But if Republicans take meaningful action on contraception, she argued, it will improve their popularity with both their own base and Democrats dissatisfied with President Joe Biden. “You've got a fair number of Democrats saying that they want an alternative to Biden and Harris, or they may sit it out,” Conway said in an interview with Alice. “He’s especially bleeding young voters, who you would think would be animated and interested to hear about [contraception] and who are in the prime of their years and choosing to conceive or not to conceive.” Progressives preparing for battles in 2024 to hold the Senate and White House are skeptical Republicans can cast themselves as champions of birth control heading into 2024. “It’s a smokescreen that voters won’t fall for,” Jill Alper, a campaign strategist and former political director of the DNC, told Alice. “Voters want elected officials in office who understand that women and families want the freedom and privacy to make their own health care decisions with their doctor about the entire panoply of care — contraception, prenatal, childbirth, postnatal, miscarriage, abortion and infertility. Full stop." WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said he hopes his agency can let everyone enjoy their holidays without releasing major rules right around then. We’ll see about that! Reach us at bleonard@politico.com or ccirruzzo@politico.com. We can keep you anonymous. Follow along @_BenLeonard_ and @ChelseaCirruzzo. TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Lauren Gardner talks with POLITICO global health reporter Carmen Paun about Congress’ move to reauthorize the SUPPORT Act, which expands treatment for opioid use disorder, as the rate of fatal overdoses remains near record highs in the U.S. Listen to today’s Pulse Check podcast   A message from PhRMA: PBMs decide if medicines get covered and what you pay, regardless of what your doctor prescribes. PBMs say they want patients to pay less, yet they often deny or limit coverage of lower-cost generics and biosimilars. Instead PBMs cover medicines with higher prices so they make more money. Learn more.   Congress Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden (left) and ranking member Mike Crapo are both open to site-neutral reforms. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo VIEW FROM THE UPPER CHAMBER — The ball is in the Senate’s court on health legislation after the House passed a sweeping health care package Monday adding new transparency requirements for pharmacy benefit managers, insurers and hospitals. The Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committees have each advanced their own bills on PBMs out of committee, setting up the two chambers to reconcile their legislation. What they said: Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told Pulse on Tuesday that he’s still reviewing the House proposal and took a victory lap over the 26-0 margin by which his package advanced out of committee. HELP Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told Pulse the House package was a “start” but that lawmakers “need to do a lot better.” Site-neutral payments are expected to be a key focus area. The House package would change Medicare payment policy so drugs administered in a hospital outpatient department are reimbursed at the same rate as in a doctor's office. Wyden and ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) have expressed openness to site-neutral reforms, but it’s unclear what that might look like. The HELP Committee advanced primary care and workforce legislation from Sanders and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) with its own site-neutral provisions, though different than the House’s, banning hospitals from charging “facility fees” for outpatient clinics. Hospitals have come out in force against such proposals, arguing they would force cuts and impact access to care. They constitute the bulk of the deficit reduction from the House package, which would cut $715 million from the deficit over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. DIABETES UNDER DISCUSSION — A Senate HELP Committee hearing on Thursday will take a sweeping look at diabetes and obesity. Our Megan R. Wilson obtained the written testimony of the five witnesses, which include type 1 diabetes advocates and professors of psychology, nutrition and medicine. Here are some takeaways: — There’s a push to move bipartisan insulin legislation to lower costs: The issue has been top of mind for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, but the measure hasn’t seen floor time. — Ozempic gets name-checked: Yale School of Medicine professor Kasia Lipska discusses the high cost of diabetes treatments and drug negotiation. — Academics talk labeling: The FDA is looking into rules for labels on unhealthy food, including front packaging that calls out high levels of saturated fats or sugar. However, some topics — like food marketing, an update to dietary guidelines and sugar content in processed snacks — and solutions, such as higher taxes for junk-food makers, remain outside the committee’s scope. Sanders’ office didn’t respond to questions about what legislation could be on the horizon. STRONG SUPPORT FOR SUPPORT ACT — The House and the Senate HELP Committee advanced landmark legislation Tuesday to expand treatment for opioid use disorder as the nation’s rate of fatal overdoses remains near record highs, POLITICO’s Carmen Paun reports. The House voted overwhelmingly to reauthorize a 2018 law that expired at the end of September. The Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act from Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) would bring back a requirement for states to cover drug-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder through Medicaid, among other provisions. The HELP Committee also approved its version of the SUPPORT Act reauthorization bill 19-1, setting up consideration by the full Senate and likely enactment of a new law soon.   POLITICO AT CES® 2024: We are going ALL On at CES 2024 with a special edition of the POLITICO Digital Future Daily newsletter. The CES-focused newsletter will take you inside the most powerful tech event in the world, featuring revolutionary products that cut across verticals, and insights from industry leaders that are shaping the future of innovation. The newsletter runs from Jan. 9-12 and will focus on the public policy-related aspects of the gathering. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the show.     Artificial Intelligence HEALTH AI ON TAP — A top HHS official is set to testify before the Energy and Commerce Committee this morning on artificial intelligence. Micky Tripathi, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, will likely be peppered with questions about ONC’s upcoming rule on AI. The proposed rule would require more transparency on algorithms. The hearing will focus on artificial intelligence use in drug development, diagnoses, patient care, fraud detection and research, according to a memo to members and staff from committee Republicans. Also expected are questions about how government agencies use and regulate AI and how they work with the private sector. Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) suggested in a statement that a sector-specific approach is important in regulating AI.   A message from PhRMA:   Privacy NO WARRANT NEEDED? Progressives in the Senate and House want HHS to strengthen health privacy regulations after several major pharmacies responded to a congressional inquiry confirming they don’t need a warrant to share prescription records with police unless state law requires it, Chelsea reports. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) asked eight major pharmacy chains how they handle police requests for records following the repeal of Roe v. Wade. According to a letter the three sent to HHS on Tuesday, none of the eight pharmacies — CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Cigna, Optum RX, Kroger, Rite Aid and Amazon — require a warrant to hand over information, but they require a subpoena. At CVS, Kroger and Rite Aid, pharmacy staff, but not legal staff, review such demands. Amazon is the only pharmacy that notifies patients about health record disclosures. CVS, Walgreens and Kroger told lawmakers they’d commit to publishing an annual report of these requests. Lawmakers told HHS they want officials to tighten HIPAA, the nation’s main health privacy law.   SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.     Names in the News Taylor Hulsey is now communications director for Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), chair of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. He previously led communications for Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas). Mary Lee Watts is now vice president for government affairs and policy for the American Clinical Laboratory Association. She most recently was director of federal affairs at the American Society for Microbiology. WHAT WE'RE READING Time reports on sports betting spurring gambling addiction for college students. A Turquoise Health report found that costs for shoppable services grew in line with inflation this year. The Government Accountability Office reports on HHS and other agencies’ use of AI.   A message from PhRMA: PBMs decide if medicines get covered and what you pay, regardless of what your doctor prescribes. PBMs say they want patients to pay less, yet they often deny or limit coverage of lower-cost generics and biosimilars. Instead PBMs cover medicines with higher prices so they make more money. Learn more.     Follow us on Twitter Dan Goldberg @dancgoldberg Chelsea Cirruzzo @chelseacirruzzo Katherine Ellen Foley @katherineefoley Lauren Gardner @Gardner_LM Kelly Hooper @kelhoops Robert King @rking_19 Ben Leonard @_BenLeonard_ David Lim @davidalim Megan Messerly @meganmesserly Alice Miranda Ollstein @aliceollstein Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Evan Peng @thepngfile Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker Megan R. Wilson @misswilson   Follow us

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