Medicare Advantage drama continues: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) blasted seven top Medicare Advantage insurers for opposing proposed rate cuts despite the long history of “outsized profits” and “corporate profiteering” in the MA program. In letters to the companies — including UnitedHealthcare Group Inc., CVS’s Aetna, Humana Inc. and Cigna Corp. — the lawmakers requested information on whether the insurers would cut executives’ “exorbitant salaries” or “massive payouts” to shareholders to preserve seniors’ Medicare benefits, turning the industry’s arguments against itself.
Mr. Bancel Goes to Washington: In a Senate Help, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, Moderna Inc. CEO Stéphane Bancel defended the company’s decision to roughly quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine to $130 when it goes to the commercial market amid ongoing criticisms from lawmakers, with the executive blaming the price hike on the complexity of developing and delivering the shots and the product’s value.
Alzheimer’s drug coverage: Senators in a budget hearing questioned Becerra about Medicare’s decision to limit coverage on recent Alzheimer’s treatments from Biogen Inc. and Eisai Co. Ltd., with some Republican lawmakers using the line of questions as an opportunity to raise concerns about the potential efficacy of Medicare’s newly granted authority to negotiate prescription drug prices.
COVID-19 origins, response, vaccines: President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that orders the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that he plans to “share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security.” Meanwhile, a new analysis of data showed a potential connection between the COVID-19 virus and animals sold at a market in Wuhan, China, a report that some researchers say offers the strongest evidence yet that the coronavirus jumped from animals to humans.
The White House will shut down its COVID-19 response team once the national and public health emergencies expire in May, and Dr. Ashish Jha, who leads the team, plans to leave the Biden administration once the group disbands, according to multiple current and former officials. A senior administration official said in a statement that while the pandemic is not over and will remain a priority for the administration, COVID-19 “no longer disrupts our lives because of investments and our efforts to mitigate its worst impacts.”
The FDA may authorize a second omicron-tailored COVID-19 booster vaccine for the elderly and people considered high risk for developing severe illness within the next couple of weeks, according to people familiar with the agency’s deliberations. After the FDA finalizes a decision, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would have to recommend the shots for them to become widely available.
Addressing insulin costs: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced the state will work with the generic drug nonprofit Civica Rx. to produce insulin that will cost the state $30 per vial to make. The contract, which comes after top insulin makers said they would significantly lower insulin prices, requires Civica to manufacture state-branded insulin and offer it to any Californian by mail order and at local pharmacies, regardless of their insurance coverage.
Finally, Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) announced a plan to introduce a bill that would cap monthly insulin costs at $35 a month for people with private insurance and those without insurance, the latest push in Washington, D.C., to cut patients’ out-of-pocket spending on insulin. The bill follows announcements from the top manufacturers to significantly reduce the prices of certain insulin products and Biden’s proposal to cap costs at $35 a month in his fiscal year 2024 budget.
