Tag: Bipartisan Policy Center

Modest health goals for new US Congress

Volume 400, Issue 10369
17 December 2022 

 

WORLD REPORT  With Congress almost evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, consensus on any major health legislation is unlikely.  Susan Jaffe reports. 

When a new US Congress convenes in January, 2023, the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives and the Democrats’ even smaller margin in the Senate will not enable either party to make major changes in the health-care system. With President Joe Biden promising to use his veto power to defend his health-care agenda, no significant fixes are expected. But there appears to be bipartisan support for some less ambitious legislation on issues that will overcome congressional gridlock.[Continued here.]…

Scott Gottlieb sworn in to head the FDA

lancet cover 2Volume 389, Number  10084 

27 May 2017 

WORLD REPORT    Scott Gottlieb becomes commissioner of the FDA, as the agency’s role is threatened by an administration adverse to regulation.  Susan Jaffe, The Lancet’s Washington correspondent, reports.

Only 6 months ago, Scott Gottlieb was still a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative thinktank, when he presented testimony to a US Senate committee investigating prescription drug prices. Before he began, he volunteered that he was “a reformed government bureaucrat, having worked at FDA [US Food and Drug Administration] for a number of years”. He blamed astonishing price hikes—500% in the case of Mylan’s EpiPen—on “regulatory failures stemming from FDA policy, and I think that policy can be fixed”.

Gottlieb was sworn in as the 23rd commissioner of the FDA after being approved earlier this month by the US Senate, over the strong objections of most Democrats. Now Gottlieb will have a chance to fix a daunting array of policies. [Continued here] …

Experts confident of congressional funding for US Cures Act

lancet cover 2
Volume 389,  Number 10065
14  January 2017

How future funding for the landmark 21st Century Cures Act and repeal of the Affordable Care Act may affect its success.  [Interviews with lead sponsors Representatives Fred Upton, Diana DeGette, NIH Director Francis Collins, and patient advocates.  Full article here] …

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By Susan Jaffe   |  June 28, 2013 |  KAISER HEALTH NEWS 

The Commission on Long-Term Care held its first meeting Thursday on Capitol Hill with some members acknowledging that their late start adds to their challenges in offering Congress recommendations on how to finance the expensive services for seniors and disabled Americans.

The panel isKHN logo hobbled with a meager budget and staffing, and it is facing a three-month deadline for its report. Speakers at the meeting reminded the commission that the effort is daunting.

The commission heard a litany of statistics from four experts who explained how the nation’s growing population of seniors will become more dependent on long-term care services. But the rising cost of those services threatens to deplete individuals’ savings and add to the nation’s budget problems because of the expenses borne by Medicare and Medicaid. MORE