Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Anti-abortion forces plan for a Trump return

Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy.
Jan 30, 2024 View in browser
 
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By Ben Leonard and Chelsea Cirruzzo

With Robert King

Driving The Day

President Donald Trump holds up an Executive Order.

Anticipating Donald Trump's return to the presidency, anti-abortion groups are drafting executive orders to reverse Biden administration abortion policies. | Ron Sachs/Getty Images

TRUMP’S POTENTIAL ABORTION PLAYBOOK  Anti-abortion groups are crafting a sweeping agenda for former President Donald Trump to implement if he returns to the White House, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports.

Nearly 100 anti-abortion and conservative groups are eyeing ways the former president, if elected, can use the federal government, including the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Postal Service, to restrict abortion access. Many of the policies are the same ones Trump put in place and President Joe Biden ended — but this time they’d have much more impact post-Dobbs.

Trump has had an up-and-down relationship with anti-abortion groups, but they see his potential second term as a chance to crack down on abortion nationwide.

“Due to not having 60 votes in the Senate and not having a firm pro-life majority in the House, I think administrative action is where we’re going to see the most action after 2024 if President Trump or another pro-life president is elected,” Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life, told POLITICO.

The Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project — a group of anti-abortion organizations — is working to draft executive orders rolling back Biden policies like making abortions available in some cases at VA hospitals and collecting resumes from activists interested in working in the federal government.

The groups’ wishlist includes: 

 Reviving Trump policies, including restrictions on abortion pills and domestic and international clinics offering contraception

— Undoing the expansion of HIPAA privacy rules to cover abortions

— Using the FTC to prosecute virtual clinics that prescribe abortion pills to people in states where they’re banned

— Rolling back policies allowing abortion pills to be available by mail and at retail pharmacies

— Using the EPA to classify the chemicals in abortion pill mifepristone as “forever chemicals” subject to stricter regulations

Meanwhile: Although defending abortion rights is one of his top campaign messages, President Joe Biden’s ability to act on abortion without Congress’ support on the issue is limited. Oral arguments for a Supreme Court case that could restrict access to abortion pills are set for March 26, the court said Monday.

WELCOME TO TUESDAY PULSE. Are you lobbying Congress on health AI policy? We want to hear from you. Reach us at bleonard@politico.com or ccirruzzo@politico.com. Follow along @_BenLeonard_ and @ChelseaCirruzzo.

2024 CAMPAIGN TRAIL

A group protesting repeal of the Affordable Care Act is pictured here.

The advocacy group Protect Our Care has released its 2024 agenda, which includes preventing any attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

FIRST IN PULSE: A 2024 RACE PREVIEW — Protect Our Care, a prominent Democrat-aligned health care advocacy group, unveiled its 2024 agenda Tuesday, which includes making Obamacare subsidies permanent, expanding Medicare drug pricing negotiations and boosting Medicaid.

The nonprofit’s list of policy priorities signals Democrats' potential messaging as the 2024 elections near. It’s unclear how many priorities can be accomplished this year.

“At a time when Donald Trump and his Republican allies have doubled down on their war on health care, threatening to move backwards to repeal the ACA and hike prescription drug costs, we must organize to fight back,” the group’s chair, Leslie Dach, said in a statement.

The details: The agenda hits on a number of Democrats’ favorite health care talking points, including protecting the Affordable Care Act, taking on the pharmaceutical industry and strengthening safety net programs. That includes:

— Making ACA subsidies that run through 2025 permanent

— Allowing Medicare to pick 50 drugs for negotiation

— Capping insulin costs at $35 a month for all Americans, not just those on Medicare

— Penalizing drug companies for raising prices more than inflation rates

— Closing the Medicaid “coverage gap”

Opposing GOP efforts to bolster health savings accounts tied to high-deductible plans

— Informing the public about the Supreme Court abortion pill case

 

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In Congress

MA ALLIES LAUD SENATE SUPPORT — A group of 61 bipartisan senators is backing the Medicare Advantage program despite a lobbying campaign from opponents to steer clear, Robert reports.

The effort comes as the Biden administration is expected to release next year’s payment rates in the coming weeks. While letters of support from lawmakers on policies or programs are routine on the Hill, this effort ran into opposition from several groups critical of Medicare Advantage.

“The diversity of support behind this letter … reflects the success of Medicare Advantage,” said Mary Beth Donahue, CEO of the Better Medicare Alliance, which organized the letter.

The letter calls for CMS to be more transparent on coverage options and take on “predatory and deceptive marketing practices.”

It comes amid a sharp fight over advertising and spending in the program. A recent MedPAC report that BMA raised methodological concerns about found that the federal government is expected to pay MA plans $88 billion more this year than it should.

The Center for Medicare Advocacy urged senators not to sign the letter due to “wasteful overpayments to [Medicare Advantage] plans.” The group Physicians for a National Health Program wrote to Senate staffers earlier this month calling for their bosses not to sign the BMA letter.

The groups have been critical of tactics some plans have used to inflate government payments as well as aggressive marketing and care denials.

TELEHEALTH TUMULT: A leading telemedicine lobbying group is raising concerns that a “potentially burdensome and disruptive gap in coverage” could result if HHS doesn’t prod Congress to act on virtual care.

Congress has extended eased Medicare telehealth rules through the end of 2024.

The Partnership to Advance Virtual Care, which counts among its members Teladoc, the Better Medicare Alliance and the Mayo Clinic, suggested HHS should have set a timeline by which Congress should act to avoid such disruptions.

Why it matters: Lawmakers often wait until the 11th hour to come to deals on spending packages and legislation. If Congress waits until 2024’s final weeks to make expanded coverage permanent or extend it further, executive director Rachel Stauffer told Pulse, it could limit CMS’ ability to offer virtual care coverage, given when the agency has to set payment rates for doctors.

The group called for President Joe Biden’s budget to include several proposals “to cement telehealth” as a key part of the health care system.

“Including such proposals in the President’s Budget would send a clear signal to Congress that it must act,” Stauffer wrote in a letter to CMS.

A CMS spokesperson said the agency “is committed to ensuring people with Medicare have access to the quality care they need and deserve” and wants to promote telehealth.

VETERANS' HEALTH

EXPANDED IVF: The VA and the Defense Department are moving to end their in-vitro fertilization rules requiring beneficiaries to be legally married and restricting access for same-sex couples.

Additionally, the rules don’t allow beneficiaries to use reproductive cells from donors and require that the need for fertility treatments is because of a service-connected disability.

The moves come amid a legal challenge to the Defense Department and the VA’s IVF policies from the National Organization for Women–New York City.

The DOD is finalizing changes that would remove marriage and donor cell restrictions, and the VA will make similar changes, the agencies said in a legal filing.

“We continue to strongly advocate for expanded access to assistive reproductive therapies, including in-vitro fertilization, for single Veterans, those in same-sex relationships, and those who need donor gametes and/or embryos,” VA press secretary Terrence Hayes told Pulse in an email Monday.

The VA already offers other types of fertility care, including hormone therapies and artificial insemination, to all enrolled veterans.

Names in the News

Claire Sheahan has been named president and CEO of the Alliance for Health Policy. She’s been serving as interim COO.

Jeffrey Burke has joined the National Association of Rural Health Clinics as deputy director of government affairs. He was previously a legislative aide for Sen. Angus King (I-Maine).

Marta Green has been named executive director of the National Institute for Public Employee Health Care Policy. She was previously chief of health plan research and administration at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

WHAT WE'RE READING

Healthcare Dive reports on an analysis from insurers that the No Surprises Act blocked more than 10 million unexpected bills.

STAT reports that scientists have uncovered cases of Alzheimer's transmitted through a medical procedure.

Libby Jones makes the case for the SUPPORT Act in The Hill.

 

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