5 VP contenders who are health care VIPs

Jul 26, 2024

By Chelsea Cirruzzo, Ben Leonard and Toni Odejimi

Presented by

Driving The Day

Kamala Harris on stage at a rally with JB Pritzker.

Suggested running mates for Vice President Kamala Harris include Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. | Scott Olson/Getty Images

MEET THE POTENTIAL VEEPS — Some names circulating as potential choices for Vice President Kamala Harris’ VP pick for her Democratic presidential run include a former astronaut and a couple of governors in battleground states, Chelsea and Toni report.

All support abortion rights, like Harris, and have health policy backgrounds that include attempts to cancel medical debt, expand mental health care access and up Medicaid enrollment.

Here’s who the Harris campaign is reportedly eyeing — and their health policy records:

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear: He’s served as Kentucky governor since 2019, was state attorney general before that and has bested his Republican opponents in the deep-red state. Like Harris, he supports abortion rights and has opposed his state’s near-total abortion ban. He’s launched ads to call on state legislators to loosen the ban.

As attorney general, Beshear joined lawsuits to protect the Affordable Care Act and filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies for their alleged involvement in the state’s opioid crisis.

In his first days in office, the two-term governor stopped his predecessor’s efforts to impose Medicaid work requirements and he reopened the state marketplace. Beshear follows in the footsteps of his father, who as governor expanded Medicaid in 2014 under the ACA and oversaw the creation of the state’s healthcare exchange.

Beshear unsuccessfully fought legislative efforts last year to restrict gender-affirming care for minors. His veto was overridden by the Republican-controlled legislature.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker: Like Harris, Pritzker has sought to lower health care costs, signing legislation to prevent insurance hikes, require insurer price transparency and create a new state-based marketplace.

Earlier this year, he signed legislation to remove barriers to mental health coverage, including prior authorization.

A member of the wealthy Pritzker family, which owns the Hyatt Hotel chains, he’s funneled some of his personal wealth to back abortion rights. Last fall, he funded and launched a national abortion-rights group called Think Big America, which targets abortion rights ballot measures in other states.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro: Shapiro has taken an aggressive approach to medical debt. Earlier this year, he proposed using state money to wipe out $400 million of medical debt for Pennsylvanians.

He’s signed legislation to expand telemedicine services for people in rural areas and increase regulatory oversight of pharmacy benefit managers, which manage drug benefits for insurers and large employers — a hot issue on Capitol Hill.

Last year, Shapiro created a behavioral health council to bring local and state leaders together to discuss how to remove barriers to mental health care.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper: Expanding Medicaid access has been Cooper’s main health care focus. Last March, he signed legislation making North Carolina the 40th state to expand Medicaid.

Cooper vetoed an abortion ban that the state’s Republican-controlled legislature overrode. He later joined an amicus brief filed by the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, urging the Supreme Court to protect access to mifepristone, a pill used in medication abortions.

He’s asked CMS for a waiver requiring hospitals to relieve low-income North Carolinians of medical debt in exchange for Medicaid funds. That plan is still pending approval.

On the national front, Cooper served on former President Donald Trump’s commission on the opioid crisis in 2017, which met to provide recommendations on how to combat drug overdoses.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly: Much of Kelly’s health policy has been focused on expanding health care access for veterans, sponsoring legislation to increase research into cancers in veterans and reintroducing legislation to allow military kids to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26.

Kelly has cosponsored a number of bills to protect access to abortion and reproductive health care, including in vitro fertilization. Those bills have not moved in the Senate.

WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. It’s going to be an exciting few days for me between my bridal shower and the Olympics! Let’s hope this weekend is a bit less newsy than the last two weekends. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@politico.com and bleonard@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_.

A message from AFP’s Personal Option:

I scream, you scream, we all scream for…a Personal Option in healthcare! The Personal Option is the healthcare plan that funds families and individuals, not insurance companies. It offers as many healthcare options as there are ice cream flavors, so Americans get the coverage they want at a price they can afford. And the cherry on top? More personal control of healthcare means lower costs for everyone. Get the scoop at PersonalOption.com.

In Congress

Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

The Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Chair Patty Murray (left), and ranking member Susan Collins, will mark up the proposed HHS budget next week. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

SENATE TAKES ON HHS BUDGET — The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to mark up the fiscal 2025 HHS budget next Thursday.

The markup comes as the House leaves for August recess without moving the bill — which advanced out of committee earlier this month — to the floor. Amid a number of controversial provisions related to abortion and contraceptives, House Republicans were forced to yank the bill and other funding bills before they could come to a vote. Those provisions will likely be struck out in a Democrat-controlled Senate, POLITICO’s Caitlin Emma reports.

What’s inside the bill: The proposed HHS budget slashes funding for the agency overall by 7 percent with significant cuts to the CDC and eliminates Title X family-planning grants, but it increases funding for state substance-use prevention programs.

Senate appropriators also approved a $61.6 million measure Thursday to fund the State Department and foreign-aid programs, with $9.7 billion of the funding going to global health efforts, POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes reports.

Live briefings, policy trackers, and procedural, industry, and people intelligence from POLITICO Pro Analysis gives you the insights you need to focus your policy strategy this election cycle. Secure your seat.

AROUND THE AGENCIES

GOT MILK? PREPARE TO — The infant milk supply is vulnerable to future disruptions, and Congress, the FDA and the Department of Agriculture need to get ready, according to a new report.

How we got here: In late 2021, the FDA learned of four cases of infant illness or death after consuming formula produced by Abbott, which recalled the products. This led to a nationwide shortage of infant formula and an outcry over the FDA’s handling of the crisis.

In the report, out Thursday, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, an expert committee convened on the FDA’s request urged the agencies and Congress to take steps now to prevent future disruptions.

“Our report recommends steps that should be taken now to not only reduce the risk of future shortages but also to make sure that when a disruption does occur, no parent has to face the anxiety and stress of not being able to find formula for their infant,” said Barbara Schneeman, chair of the committee that wrote the report and emeritus professor at the University of California, Davis.

Among the report’s recommendations:

— HHS and the FDA should create a risk-management plan in the case of a shortage, and the FDA should develop standards for risk management among infant formula manufacturers.

— The FDA and the CDC should work with infant nutrition experts and manufacturers to develop guidance on how caregivers can safely substitute formula during a shortage.

— Congress should require manufacturers to give the FDA timely notice if they plan to stop producing formulas, which could create a disruption as a result.

SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRI

Public Health

SMOKERS WANT TO QUIT BUT STRUGGLE — In 2022, most U.S. smokers wanted to quit, but only half tried and few were actually successful, according to a CDC report out Thursday.

The report found that most of the 28.8 million Americans who smoke cigarettes wanted to quit in 2022. However, of the half that tried to quit, fewer than 10 percent were successful. Just under 40 percent of adults used cessation therapy, including counseling or drugs, to quit, and half received clinical advice to quit.

Menthol smokers have lower quit success despite a higher quit attempt than nonmenthol smokers, per the report. The White House earlier this year abandoned its plan to ban menthol cigarettes before the election.

Why it matters: While progress has been made in reducing smoking in the U.S., the report highlights continued disparities in use and cessation.

A message from AFP’s Personal Option:

Names in the News

Jacquelyn McRae is now vice president of policy and external affairs at the National Pharmaceutical Council. She previously was director of policy and research at PhRMA.

WHAT WE'RE READING

Chelsea reports on HHS merging two of its tech policy agencies and increasing its focus on AI.

The New York Times reports on a large study finding that breast cancer survival isn’t boosted by double mastectomies.

STAT has an investigation into UnitedHealth’s massive physician empire and influence.

A message from AFP’s Personal Option:

No one goes to an ice cream shop advertising “One flavor!” Yet that’s how healthcare is for too many Americans. But Americans want healthcare like they want their ice cream – countless flavors and endless toppings at an affordable price.

A Personal Option gives Americans that kind of personal control over their healthcare. How? By expanding access to health savings accounts and direct primary care plans that cut out insurance company middlemen. Price transparency to end surprise billing. And better access to the doctors Americans trust.

Polls show the Personal Option is more popular than ice cream in July – okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But a majority of voters do support it over competing plans. Affordable healthcare shouldn’t be a rocky road. A Personal Option is like a “build your own sundae” bar – you get to do it your way. Get the scoop at PersonalOption.com.