| | | | |  | | By Ben Leonard and Chelsea Cirruzzo | | | | | 
Appropriators in Congress are working to meet the first of two government funding deadlines on March 1. | Andrew Harnik/AP | SHUTDOWN LOOMS — Congress is out of town this week and facing another government shutdown deadline with major health care implications. Lawmakers are confronted with two deadlines — March 1 for funding for the FDA and the VA and March 8 for HHS funding. It’s a key week for Congressional appropriators. How much progress they make now will determine whether lawmakers have to turn to another temporary spending package. Even though Congress is away, negotiations continue, and key lawmakers are “encouraged” about the prospect of reaching a deal. But as POLITICO's Caitlin Emma and Jennifer Scholtes report, there's skepticism about whether the progress is being made quickly enough, according to sources familiar with the talks. Legislative text for some fiscal 2024 measures should ideally be finalized by this weekend to allow time for the Congressional Budget Office to pore over the bills and top lawmakers to calculate their next steps. Policy riders remain an issue, and Republicans will have to weigh how hard to push for such policy wins with deadlines approaching. An unprecedented amount of abortion-related policy riders has been a thorny issue throughout the process, with Republicans growing frustrated that many are likely doomed. The stakes: Congress has time for one more funding patch, or continuing resolution, before billions in spending cuts from the debt ceiling deal kick in, but there’s little enthusiasm for what would be the fourth temporary fix this fiscal year. If there's a shutdown, HHS has said it would have to furlough close to half of its employees, though Medicare benefits will keep flowing. Staffers would keep essential services operating, and disease monitoring would continue. At the FDA, three-quarters of staff would remain, and work funded via carryover user fee funding would continue, as would agency action “related to imminent threats to the safety of human life.” A health care package: Border, national security and tax deal discussions have taken up much of lawmakers’ attention in recent weeks, a situation that could impede the chances of health care deal-making. Deals on expanded transparency requirements across the sector and reforms for pharmacy benefit managers — which manage prescription drugs for health insurers — have so far proven elusive. WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. We’re looking forward to baseball’s return tomorrow with MLB’s first Spring Training game. Reach us at bleonard@politico.com or ccirruzzo@politico.com. Follow along @_BenLeonard_ and @ChelseaCirruzzo.
| | | | CONGRESS OVERDRIVE: Since day one, POLITICO has been laser-focused on Capitol Hill, serving up the juiciest Congress coverage. Now, we’re upping our game to ensure you’re up to speed and in the know on every tasty morsel and newsy nugget from inside the Capitol Dome, around the clock. Wake up, read Playbook AM, get up to speed at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report, and fuel your nightly conversations with Inside Congress in the evening. Plus, never miss a beat with buzzy, real-time updates throughout the day via our Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here. | | | | | | | | ACA GETS SOME SUPPORT FROM GOP — Nearly 3 in 5 Americans view the Affordable Care Act favorably, with not-insignificant backing from Republicans, according to new polling of more than 1,000 U.S adults from KFF released today.
|  | | The details: Thirty-seven percent of Republicans surveyed said they want the law expanded or kept as is, while 62 percent want it scaled back or repealed. Eighty-nine percent of Democrats and 66 percent of independents said they want the law to remain intact or expanded. The bigger picture: The polling comes as President Joe Biden has made protecting the ACA a major part of his 2024 campaign. Former President Donald Trump late last year revived talks of repealing the law, and the Biden campaign quickly mobilized to slam him.
| | TRUMP ALLIES PLAN FOR ROUND TWO — A prominent think tank tied to Donald Trump plans to bring Christian nationalist ideas to his second administration if he wins the 2024 race, POLITICO’s Alexander Ward and Heidi Przybyla report. Russell Vought, who was Trump’s OMB director and is president of the Center for Renewing America think tank, leads the effort. Vought has a close affiliation with Christian nationalist William Wolfe, a former Trump official who’s called for ending abortion and curtailing contraception access. Christian nationalists in America believe that the country was founded as a Christian nation, and Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life. Vought, who declined to comment, is advising the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a governing agenda that would usher in one of the most conservative executive branches in modern American history. Some of the Project 2025 health care-related proposals include: — Increasing surveillance of abortion and maternal mortality reporting in states — Revoking FDA approval of abortion pills — Protecting “religious and moral” objections for employers who decline contraception coverage for employees The response: Rachel Cauley, CRA’s communications director, said, “The so-called reporting from POLITICO in this story is false and we told them so on multiple occasions.” Trump’s campaign declined to comment but has repeatedly said it alone is responsible for staffing a potential administration and putting together policies.
| | CASSIDY TAKES ON DATA PRIVACY — Senate HELP Committee ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) proposes updates to health data covered by HIPAA and data that falls outside of its scope, as well as information in a HIPAA “gray area.” The top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee said today that new technology can bolster care and patient access but warned it can also bring additional vulnerability. In a white paper, Cassidy suggested: — “Discrete updates and clarifications” to HIPAA instead of a “major rewrite,” including clarification on standards that limit disclosures to the minimum amount of information to fulfill a request — “Greater clarity” about privacy protections around data that patients provide on intake forms, and patients being notified when wellness data falls outside of HIPAA — The FTC should be at the forefront for health data falling outside of HIPAA, warning against the approach taken by HHS’ Office for Civil Rights NEW AI TASK FORCE — House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries unveiled a new bipartisan artificial intelligence task force with several members who are actively involved in health care policy. The task force, chaired by Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and co-chaired by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), includes Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif), the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s health subcommittee. Other members include Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), who serves on the E&C Health Subcommittee, and Reps. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.), who are on the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. Reps. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) have also been active in health care legislation and will serve on the task force. Why a task force? The move comes as Congress begins to wrestle with how to regulate the emerging technology. The group will assemble a “comprehensive report” with bipartisan policy proposals crafted alongside relevant committees. A spokesperson for Johnson told Pulse the report would come out later this year. “Congress must continue to encourage innovation and maintain our country’s competitive edge, protect our national security, and carefully consider what guardrails may be needed to ensure the development of safe and trustworthy technology,” Johnson said in a release.
| | FDA: WATCH FOR FAKE DATA — The FDA warns device manufacturers and study sponsors to keep a close eye on third parties they use to conduct performance testing and verify testing results before sending them to the agency. The FDA says it has seen a rise in recent years in entities working with device firms that generate fabricated, duplicated or “otherwise unreliable” data. It said that some of the increase has come from facilities in China and India, and the “alarming trend” could result in lessened patient access to new devices and supply-chain issues. “When such data are submitted to the FDA, the agency is unable to rely on them to grant marketing authorization and it calls into question the data integrity of the entire file,” the agency said in a notice Tuesday. Moving forward: The agency called on device companies to be proactive in scrutinizing the outside testing data they submit to the FDA. “We expect device firms to identify testing results that are improbable or impossible on their face or do not seem consistent with known information about the device,” the agency said.
| | | | Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, is set to retire in January 2025 after leading the group since 2011. He was previously governor of Kansas. Alicia Hennie is now VP of external affairs at United Network for Organ Sharing, POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman reports. She most recently was senior director for government affairs at Varian. Smriti Kirubanandan is joining Accenture as managing director of the firm's health care practice. She was previously at Tata Consultancy Services.
| | Healthcare Dive reports on insurers' forecasts for how increased Medicare Advantage use will impact them. STAT reports on Obamacare plans’ potential coverage of weight-loss drugs.
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