Politicizing abortion a risky move for Dems

Presented by American Hospital Association: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Pulse examines the latest news in health care politics and policy.

May 13, 2024 View in browser   By Chelsea Cirruzzo and Ben Leonard Presented by American Hospital Association Driving the Day Abortion-rights ballot measure campaigns are concerned that swing voters will be alienated if Democrats try to politicize the effort. | Julio Cortez/AP DEMS WALK ABORTION TIGHTROPE — Campaigns to put abortion on the ballot fear that the Democratic candidates embracing their initiatives will further politicize the issue and turn off Republican and independent voters, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and Alice Miranda Ollstein report. These campaigns — particularly in battleground states like Arizona, Florida and Missouri — must win over voters from all parties in November. Some ballot measure campaigns, like Ohio’s in 2023 and Missouri's this year, have largely avoided holding events with Democratic politicians or featuring them in ads. Some, like Florida's, have even warned Democrats to remain at arm’s length. Others, such as those in Arizona and Nevada, have either sent staff to candidate events or hosted Democratic officials at their rallies in an attempt to energize volunteers and collect signatures to qualify for the ballot. But nearly all are sticking to nonpartisan messaging calling for freedom from government control and personal autonomy and refraining from commenting on candidates. Candidates and ballot campaigns want to use abortion to motivate people to the polls, and advocates acknowledge that ballot measures alone, without a Democratic president and Congress, can’t protect access to the procedure. But as ballot measure campaigns work to appeal to voters across the political spectrum, they fear Democrats will make the referendums appear too partisan and ultimately sink their chances. “I’m not trying to suggest that Democrats shouldn't talk about abortion. I think Democrats should talk about abortion all day long. You just don’t need to talk about the specific ballot initiatives all day long,” said a consultant working with several state ballot initiatives, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about campaign strategy. “Because when Democratic politicians try to falsely claim ownership of the ballot initiatives, they reduce the chances that they win.” WELCOME TO MONDAY PULSE. Did you see the aurora borealis this weekend? If so, don’t tell us — it was too cloudy in Washington, and now we’re jealous. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@politico.com and bleonard@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_.   A message from American Hospital Association: America’s hospitals and health systems are ready for you, 24/7. This week, almost 1 out of every 100 individuals will visit the emergency room. And by the end of this year, more than 130 million people will have made this visit. You may not know when you’ll need us; but in America’s hospitals and health systems, we’re always ready — because emergencies don’t wait for business hours. Learn more during National Hospital Week May 12 – 18.   Public Health Federal agencies are stepping up their wastewater surveillance to track bird flu. | David Duprey/AP WHAT POOP CAN TELL US — The federal government is turning to a familiar surveillance method to track avian flu: wastewater. The CDC, the FDA and the USDA plan to spend billions of dollars to contain the outbreak among cattle across the nation, hoping to keep the virus from mutating and jumping to humans. Among the federal efforts is $3 million to prop up a wastewater surveillance pilot program at 10 “livestock-adjacent sites” to track influenza A, the strain of flu that bird flu falls under. The CDC has used such surveillance to track Covid-19, and public health experts recently urged the agency to use it to trace avian flu. The CDC is expected to post the wastewater surveillance data publicly but didn’t respond to request for comment on when. Here’s what to know: — Can the surveillance tell us whether the virus is coming from humans? Not necessarily because the samples could reflect anything from human waste to cow waste to dairy milk dumped in sewers. “Wastewater is a signal,” Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told Pulse, explaining that it can pinpoint the presence of a viral infection but not the cause. — What can public health officials do with this information? Spikes of influenza A in wastewater can alert public health officials to a specific community that might be experiencing an avian flu outbreak. “You go into that area and start looking at people for signs,” Benjamin said. “For sites with unusual influenza A virus activity detected in wastewater data, we will notify relevant partners and continue to actively investigate,” the CDC said on its website. — What are the limitations? The system must be able to zero in on specific areas, which is why the CDC is targeting areas where livestock are. Federal officials, however, have had trouble gaining access to farms to collect data because of pushback from some state agricultural officials and farmers, who worry federal health officials are sidelining state agricultural experts. HOSPITALS STILL REPORT COVID DATA — After the CDC ended its requirement last month that hospitals report flu and Covid-19 data, most hospitals continue to report. A CMS data requirement that hospitals report certain Covid and respiratory illness data, including hospital bed capacity and the number of people who have confirmed or suspected respiratory illness, ended April 30, per the end of the public health emergency. The agency expects to resume reporting in October if a proposed regulation is finalized. A CDC spokesperson told Pulse that 5,000 hospitals, on average, report the data each day — but starting May 10, that number might fluctuate depending on how much hospitals voluntarily report. On Friday, the first day voluntary reports were publicly posted, data from 4,522 hospitals showed a continued downward trend in Covid hospitalizations. “Are we going to miss a summer surge [of Covid]? It’s possible, but I don’t think so,” Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told Pulse. “We have all kinds of existing surveillance systems in place.” What’s next: A proposed Medicare inpatient rule would resume in October, requiring hospitals to electronically report data on respiratory syncytial virus, Covid and flu. The new proposal reflects a push by the agency in recent months to zero in on those three respiratory diseases, which have spiked in recent years.   THE GOLD STANDARD OF HEALTHCARE POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries, like healthcare, equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists. Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced and better sourced than any other. Our healthcare reporting team—including Alice Miranda Ollstein, Megan Messerly and Robert King—is embedded with the market-moving legislative committees and agencies in Washington and across states, delivering unparalleled coverage of health policy and the healthcare industry. We bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY.     Cybersecurity FBI EYES ASCENSION — Several federal agencies are investigating a cybersecurity attack on one of the nation’s largest health systems. Catholic nonprofit Ascension confirmed this weekend that last week’s breach was a ransomware attack that blocked access to its electronic health records. The health system, which owns 140 hospitals nationwide, has had to downsize its operations, pause some elective procedures and reroute emergency vehicles from its hospitals. Change Healthcare, owned by UnitedHealth Group, similarly experienced a ransomware attack in February. UHG CEO Andrew Witty confirmed to Congress earlier this month that the company paid a $22 million ransom. Ascension said in a statement Saturday that it is working with the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, HHS and the American Hospital Association on the attack. HHS had previously confirmed it was in touch with Ascension.   A message from American Hospital Association:   In Congress A MARKUP AND HHS HEARING — Members of Congress this week could mark up a sweeping telehealth bill as HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra heads to the Hill to talk about his department’s policies and priorities. Here’s what we’re watching on Capitol Hill: — The House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on technology modernization will hold an oversight hearing Tuesday on the VA’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget for its IT office. It comes amid the department’s health record modernization project that’s been paused after costs have spiraled and several veterans’ deaths have been tied to its Oracle Cerner EHR system. — The House Committee on Education and Workforce has invited Becerra to testify on Wednesday, where the secretary is expected to face harsh questioning from Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who’s pushed back on what she calls HHS’ “radical political agenda that has compromised Americans’ religious freedoms and parental rights, and pushed dangerous gender-reassignment surgeries on minors” in a statement. It comes after the department has finalized a number of rules to expand civil rights protections in health care, particularly for transgender and other LGBTQ+ patients. — Also expected this week is a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee markup of telehealth legislation aimed at making loosened pandemic rules that expire at the end of the year permanent. The timing of the markup is unclear, but it comes after the House Ways and Means Committee has unanimously advanced a two-year extension of pandemic-era Medicare telehealth rules allowing older Americans to receive virtual care in their homes. Many telehealth advocates have pushed to make them permanent, but some have acknowledged that cost concerns could make that difficult and have supported the bill moving.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.     Names in the News Rachel Pollock has joined Arnold Ventures as vice president of external affairs. She previously was vice president of ACT for NIH. WHAT WE'RE READING The Washington Post reports on how moms found answers for a disorder impacting their children with Down syndrome. The Associated Press reports that local officials are struggling to distribute opioid settlement money. The Associated Press reports that the first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney has died.   A message from American Hospital Association: America’s hospitals and health systems are ready for you, 24/7. This week, almost 1 out of every 100 individuals will visit the emergency room. And by the end of this year, more than 130 million people will have made this visit. You may not know when you’ll need us; but in America’s hospitals and health systems, we’re always ready — because emergencies don’t wait for business hours. Learn more during National Hospital Week May 12 – 18.     Follow us on Twitter Dan Goldberg @dancgoldberg Chelsea Cirruzzo @chelseacirruzzo Katherine Ellen Foley @katherineefoley Lauren Gardner @Gardner_LM Sophie Gardner @sophie_gardnerj Kelly Hooper @kelhoops Robert King @rking_19 Ben Leonard @_BenLeonard_ David Lim @davidalim Megan Messerly @meganmesserly Alice Miranda Ollstein @aliceollstein Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker Megan R. Wilson @misswilson   Follow us

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