E&C’s CLEAN BILLS OF HEALTH — The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday advanced more than a dozen health care bills — most of them unanimously — clearing them for consideration by the full House. The legislation would largely reauthorize programs set to expire at the end of the fiscal year. Those garnering unanimous support included measures to extend the National Alzheimer’s Project, reauthorize a program to deal with provider burnout and bolster rural emergency medical services. Other bills getting unanimous backing would continue programs for traumatic brain injuries and boost funding for Down syndrome research. The lone bill that didn’t get unanimous backing was the Kidney PATIENT Act, which would delay CMS from moving oral-only drugs for chronic kidney disease into a different payment system. Supporters, including sponsor Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), argue the change would restrict access and increase costs. But some Democrats, including committee ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), opposed it, arguing that the system “is not ready for the transition.” CBO REVEALS THINKING ON OBESITY DRUGS — The Congressional Budget Office said at an event Wednesday that it expects Medicare premiums and cost-sharing would rise for patients if Congress lifts its ban on Medicare covering weight-loss drugs. The drugs are pricey, and the nonpartisan office said its future pricing is “highly uncertain.” CBO expects that HHS would pick semaglutide, a popular diabetes and obesity treatment, for price negotiation in Medicare under the Inflation Reduction Act "within the next few years," which would reduce its price and possibly those of other anti-obesity drugs. The office also expects generic competition to emerge in the second decade of a lifted ban on Medicare coverage and new medications to become available. “The new drugs might be more effective, have fewer side effects or be taken less frequently or more easily than current medications,” CBO analyst Noelia Duchovny told the National Academies’ Roundtable on Obesity Solutions. “Those improvements could translate to higher prices, on average, even if prices decline for drugs that exist today.” The scorekeeper also said it doesn’t know of empirical evidence tying the use of anti-obesity drugs to lower health care spending in other areas but said simulations also show reduced spending in other health care areas. What's next: CBO seeks research on the drugs’ price and effectiveness and their short- and long-term clinical impacts and effects on spending. Lawmakers are also trying to change how the CBO scores preventive care. The House passed a bill via voice vote Tuesday that would require the agency to weigh whether a bill would save money over a 30-year budget window instead of 10 if Congress asks for it. BECERRA’S HOUSE CALL — HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra faced questions from House lawmakers Wednesday about whether the proposed fiscal 2025 budget had enough funding for pandemic preparedness and how HHS addresses obesity. Pandemic preparedness: At a House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) pointed to a recent report by an HHS agency that said it would need an additional $11.5 billion over five years to replenish the Strategic National Stockpile but said the proposed budget requests far below that need. “We all just swept up $4 billion we had in Covid funding, all which could’ve gone to address these issues,” Becerra responded, adding HHS had to make “tough choices.” Obesity drugs: Members of the Appropriations and House Ways and Means committees wanted to know more about what role HHS might play in making those drugs available. Becerra told Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman (D-N.J.) that state Medicaid programs can choose to pay for the drugs but that a congressional statute prevents Medicare from doing so. “We have to work with you to see what we can do,” he said. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) asked whether Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits could be restricted to prevent people from buying junk food, adding that HHS has promoted “Food as Medicine.” Becerra said he couldn’t disagree with Harris “but we oftentimes don’t get to control what gets included in these programs.”
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