Capitol Hill Healthcare Update July 22, 2019

Below is this week's "Capitol Hill Healthcare Update," which is posted on Mondays when Congress is in session.

MAJOR HEALTH POLICY UNLIKELY IN POTENTIAL DEBT-SPENDING DEAL

As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the Trump administration edge closer to a sweeping agreement to avoid a government shutdown and debt default, it's increasingly unlikely major healthcare provisions will be included.

Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been working to permanently lift sequester-imposed budget caps as well as the extend the government's borrowing authority through July 2012. Mnuchin has warned that without congressional action Washington could reach the debt ceiling shortly after Labor Day.

Democrats want to wrap up a deal this week in advance of the House's scheduled adjournment Friday, for a monthlong recess.

Raising the budget caps would effectively increase government spending, and the White House had wanted at least $150 billion of that new spending to be offset. Trump officials last week proposed a menu of $574 billion in cuts across the government, including $115 billion in reimbursement cuts or rebate increases by the pharmaceutical industry. Those proposals were included in Trump's fiscal 2020 budget proposal.

But Pelosi rejected those offsets, and there are some indications that any agreement reached this week would include little in the way of offsets.

Separately, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., are continuing to negotiate prescription drug pricing legislation. That measure, which has not been agreed to, would advance separately this fall rather than as part of any budget and debt package Congress might consider this month.

The Grassley-Wyden discussions are centered on proposals to cap increases in drug prices. While committee staff indicated the plan would save money for both the government and Medicare Part D beneficiaries, rank-and-file Republican senators last week were waiting on final Congressional Budget Office analysis before agreeing to advance any legislation.

HOUSE TO VOTE ON HEALTH REAUTHORIZATIONS BUT NO DRUG PRICING BILLS

The House floor agenda this week includes noncontroversial legislation approved earlier this month by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, mostly reauthorizing expiring programs - but absent from the agenda is committee-approved legislation addressing prescription drug prices.

Among the reauthorization bills is...

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