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| By Daniel Payne |
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With Megan Messerly and Sally Goldberg
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 Planned Parenthood is campaigning to get abortion on the ballot in Florida next year. | Mario Tama/Getty Images |
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE — Planned Parenthood and other reproductive rights groups are launching a multimillion-dollar campaign to put abortion on the Florida ballot next year, Megan and Sally report. The initiative — the details of which were confirmed exclusively to POLITICO ahead of an announcement next week — would protect abortion until a fetus is viable at about 24 weeks of pregnancy. If successful, the ballot measure could restore abortion access in Florida, which has become a haven for the procedure since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year. The launch comes three weeks after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new abortion law prohibiting the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy. It won’t, however, take effect until the Florida Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the state’s 15-week ban, which is currently in effect. “Floridians know what is best for their own bodies and their own lives,” Sarah Standiford, national campaigns director for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, told POLITICO on Thursday. “People are ready to vote for reproductive freedom and to take back power from lawmakers who have literally gone against the will of the people.” Abortion-rights advocates face an uphill climb to even get the measure on the ballot. Florida has one of the country’s most onerous ballot initiative processes, requiring supporters to get past the Florida Supreme Court’s review of the ballot language, collect roughly 890,000 signatures to put the measure before voters and garner more than 60 percent of votes to get it passed.
WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. Are you at a desk job working for a health care company with dreams of being an actor? It’s possible — as we learned from Priya Kansara, who went from a pharmaceutical comms job to being an action star in just two years.
On your way to stardom, send me tips about your soon-to-be former employer at dpayne@politico.com. TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Alice Miranda Ollstein talks with Megan about her report on the efforts being made by Planned Parenthood and partner organizations to put abortion on Florida’s ballot. Megan explains the potential political implications for the state and what it could mean for the six-week ban DeSantis recently signed into law.
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| A message from PhRMA: PBMs control your health care. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) decide if medicines get covered and what you pay, regardless of what your doctor prescribes. They say they want lower prices, yet they often deny or limit coverage of lower-cost generics and biosimilars, instead covering medicines with higher prices so they make more money. This business model allows PBM profits to soar and can lead to higher costs for everyone. What else are they hiding? |
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The Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response needs a leader to help boost development of next-generation Covid vaccines. | Timothy D. Easley/AP Photo |
HELP WANTED — The White House is ready to take on the next stage of its pandemic response — but it’s still unclear who’s going to lead it, POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn reports. Just a week out from the end of the Covid-19 public health emergency, the search continues for a leader who will take charge of the fledgling Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response. That team — along with its still-undecided leader — will be tasked with keeping up the fight against Covid, even as the government response transforms. They’ll also work to boost the development of next-generation vaccines and prevent a new surge of the virus before the 2024 election. The search for a new leader has been hindered by fears that the new job will be tough to complete, with success hinging on getting enough influence and money to achieve broad goals. The late search could not only threaten to disrupt the May 11 handoff but also alarm public health experts outside the White House about the future of the administration’s Covid response.
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| GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGSITER HERE. |
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| BAD BILLING — More than half of the psychotherapy provided to Medicare patients, at a cost of $580 million during the pandemic’s first year, didn’t meet government billing standards, POLITICO’s Ben Leonard reports. HHS’ inspector general said Thursday that providers had routinely failed to properly document the therapy they provided. That conclusion came after extrapolating from a review of 216 psychotherapy claims out of 13.5 million, a “statistically valid random sample,” according to HHS IG spokesperson Morsal Mohamad. Though the IG reported similar problems with telehealth providers and in-person ones, the findings could affect the debate in Congress about permanently extending rules permitting easy access to virtual care for Medicare patients.
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| A message from PhRMA:   |
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MORE TO DO — The U.S. needs to do more to prepare for future pandemic threats, health officials told lawmakers Thursday. POLITICO’s David Lim reports that CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell told the Senate HELP Committee that the government should act now to prepare for the next outbreak. “The increased frequency of outbreaks mean that we should not be asking if we will face another serious public health threat, but when,” Walensky said. That line of thinking has led health officials across the government to bring a new urgency to the task of preparing for the next public health emergency — whenever that may come. And it’s not just administration officials: Trade lobbies and the FDA are pitching Congress to add their legislative priorities to the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act reauthorization, a piece of legislation that will be key to the country’s pandemic preparedness efforts.
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FIRST IN PULSE: GOING AFTER PHARMA PATENTS — A new ad from the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing will hammer pharmaceutical companies for what it calls patent abuse — or filing new patents on similar products to block generics from entering the market. The ad is part of a six-figure, three-week digital campaign in Washington demanding Congress hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for the cost of prescription drugs. In the past, drug companies have defended their new products and argued that the prices are correctly aligned with the costs of developing new medicines. The new campaign comes amid a recent barrage of campaigns on the issue from groups representing pharmaceutical and insurance companies — especially as lawmakers on the Hill hold more hearings about lowering drug costs. TAX DODGERS? The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing next week on the impact U.S. international tax policy has on the pharmaceutical industry, David reports. Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the hearing will focus on the effects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Democrats widely criticize, and what he characterizes as the drug industry’s “tax avoidance schemes.”
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THE PRICE OF A SHOT — Moderna anticipates that its updated Covid-19 vaccine will have a list price of $110 to $130 a shot, David reports. A Moderna executive said Thursday it “will be providing differentiated discounts across different payer types from government agencies through to commercial players as well.” The price update comes more than a month after lawmakers on the Senate HELP Committee pressed Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel to justify a $130 price point given the $12 billion the government spent to speed the company’s clinical trials and purchase its vaccine.
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| DON’T MISS THE POLITICO ENERGY SUMMIT: A new world energy order is emerging and America’s place in it is at a critical juncture. Join POLITICO on Thursday, May 18 for our first-ever energy summit to explore how the U.S. is positioning itself in a complicated energy future. We’ll explore progress on infrastructure and climate funding dedicated to building a renewable energy economy, Biden’s environmental justice proposals, and so much more. REGISTER HERE. |
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| Our Arek Sarkissian reports on the Florida legislature passing a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. KFF has a new tracker to follow Medicaid unwinding by state. The Washington Post reports on the 12-week abortion ban in North Carolina setting up a showdown between governor and legislature.
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| A message from PhRMA: Middlemen like PBMs are charging fees tied to the price of medicines, which means they make more money when the price of a medicine goes up. This business model allows PBM profits to soar and can lead to higher costs for patients. It’s time to break the link between PBM fees and medicine prices. |
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