STAT+: Biden’s pick to lead NIH stares down an increasingly political litany of questions
WASHINGTON — President Biden’s presumed pick to lead the National Institutes of Health, Monica Bertagnolli,…
Category: Joe Biden
Biden officials propose slate of Medicaid transparency changes
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday rolled out proposals to set national standards for…
STAT+: Medicare official insists drug price negotiation will consider value of drugs
WASHINGTON — When Medicare starts negotiating drug prices, it will take into account how important…
Biden to tap head of National Cancer Institute to lead NIH
President Biden will nominate oncologist Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Cancer Institute, to lead…
The NIH has poured $1 billion into long Covid research — with little to show for it
WASHINGTON — The federal government has burned through more than $1 billion to study long…
STAT+: PhRMA execs paint grim picture of industry under Medicare drug price negotiation
WASHINGTON — Executives for the brand drug industry’s biggest lobbying group painted a grim picture…
The Biden administration will hang on to some Covid pandemic emergency powers
WASHINGTON — Even though the Biden administration is ending its highest-profile Covid-19 emergency declaration next…
STAT+: Just how big of a pay bump do hospitals need from Medicare next year?
The federal government is proposing to give hospitals a 2.8% raise in their Medicare payments…
STAT+: Wall Street embraces health insurers after scoring Medicare Advantage payment win
Health insurance companies that participate in Medicare Advantage will retain billions of extra taxpayer dollars…
Where is the White House’s new pandemic response office?
WASHINGTON — In the wake of a pandemic that claimed more than 1 million American lives,…
STAT+: Medicare Advantage plans will have to stop denying required care, federal officials say
The Biden administration is moving forward with proposals that would crack down on Medicare Advantage…
STAT+: Biden administration goes easy on Medicare Advantage insurers after intense industry lobbying
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration backed off some of its plans to rein in billions…
Texas judge strikes down major Obamacare provision protecting birth control, PrEP coverage
WASHINGTON — A federal judge Thursday reversed a major Obamacare provision requiring plans to cover…
STAT+: Is there $21 billion left for Covid response, or $5 billion? The White House is using fuzzy math
WASHINGTON — How much money does the federal government still have set aside for the…
Republicans press Becerra on gender-affirming care, reproductive rights
WASHINGTON — Republicans hammered the health secretary in hearings Tuesday, previewing a line of health-…
STAT+: Could a fight over cost-effectiveness upend Medicare drug price negotiation before it’s begun?
WASHINGTON — As Medicare drug price negotiation looms, congressional Republicans are scrambling to push through…
Biden administration plans revamp of organ transplant system
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Wednesday it will attempt to break up the network…
STAT+: Senators interrogate health secretary Becerra on Alzheimer’s drug coverage
WASHINGTON — The future of Alzheimer’s treatments and coverage hung heavily over lawmakers’ Wednesday hearing…
STAT+: Federal Medicaid officials cajole states to auto-enroll beneficiaries as huge coverage losses loom
WASHINGTON — Federal Medicaid officials are working unusually closely with states to avoid enrollment glitches…
STAT+: The big-money Medicare policy that has hospitals worried this Congress
WASHINGTON — There are few things that get lawmakers in Washington salivating more than a wonky…
Opinion: The Cancer Moonshot will never take off without economists and finance experts
In February, President Biden announced the reboot of the Cancer Moonshot and vowed to reduce…
STAT+: Medicare explains how it will choose drugs for negotiation
WASHINGTON — Medicare laid out Thursday in the greatest detail yet how it will choose…
STAT+: White House chooses a location for ARPA-H — sort of
WASHINGTON — Officials at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health are moving ahead with…
STAT+: Biden administration to fine manufacturers of 27 medicines for price hikes
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will fine drugmakers who hiked prices faster than the rate…
‘Leave the chocolate milk out of this’: School cooks, parents, kids push back on USDA effort to make lunches healthier
WASHINGTON — The feds are coming for your kids’ chocolate milk. At least, so says…
STAT+: Biden makes big demands for cancer research and new ARPA-H agency
President Biden is banking on longtime bipartisan interest in eliminating cancer deaths to secure some…
Biden administration requests $20 billion cash infusion to bolster public health
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is calling for a big boost for public health funding…
STAT+: Biden makes drug pricing a central part of his deficit reduction plans
WASHINGTON – President Biden made lowering drug prices a key part of his budget with…
With a $11 billion price tag, the White House pitches a plan to end hepatitis C
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is calling on Congress to fund a more than $11…
Revamped Covid panel argues for research limits, even bans
WASHINGTON — Pathogen-altering research is back under fire here, as Republican lawmakers argue it should…
Becerra: Judge set to rule on abortion pill is ‘beginning to read the law’
WASHINGTON — Health secretary Xavier Becerra on Tuesday warned of dramatic consequences if a federal…
Science adviser Collins hints at a big White House ask to eliminate hepatitis C
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will request “significant investments” to help eliminate hepatitis C in…
Biden proposes expanding Medicare drug negotiation program
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will propose expanding Democrats’ new drug pricing law by allowing…
President Biden to end Covid-19 emergencies on May 11
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin…
HHS’ Becerra on enrolling in Medicare, annual Covid vaccines, and seniors’ mental health
WASHINGTON — The hottest birthday spot in town: A Hispanic senior center in northwest D.C….
STAT+: Health groups like AHA, PhRMA channeled millions into end-of-year legislative debates
WASHINGTON — Health care groups and their lobbyists spent big in the last few months…
STAT+: PhRMA terminates lobbying contract with White House official’s brother
WASHINGTON — The pharmaceutical industry lobbying group PhRMA has severed its contract with a lobbyist who…
STAT+: Congressional Medicare advisers warn of higher drug prices, despite new price negotiation
WASHINGTON — Despite the pharmaceutical industry’s loud complaints to the contrary, the new law directing…
STAT+: HHS will seek more input on its new Medicare drug price negotiations
WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services is gearing up to start releasing…
STAT+: Insurers hint at suing Biden administration over plans for Medicare Advantage audits
Big health insurers who spoke at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference are gearing up to…
Still fuming over the federal Covid response, Republicans redirect the House coronavirus committee
WASHINGTON — The House’s coronavirus committee will continue in a Republican-controlled chamber — but with…
STAT+: 3 drug pricing issues to watch in 2023
WASHINGTON — The legislative saga on drug pricing is mostly over for now, but drug…
After nine months, an update on NIH’s long Covid research
You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about the politics and…
Pandemic response gets a permanent new home at the White House
WASHINGTON — The era of the rotating cast of public health czars at the White House…
STAT+: Biden administration takes aim at Medicare Advantage care denials, misleading ads
The Biden administration has unveiled its plan for attacking people’s chief concerns about privatized Medicare…
STAT+: Congress has a chance to close the FDA’s Theranos loophole
WASHINGTON – Theranos, and the company’s notoriously inaccurate blood tests, could potentially have been stopped…
STAT+: ARPA-H’s new director wants to go on a hiring spree
President Biden’s new health agency with a sweeping mandate to cure some of the system’s…
STAT+: FDA chief calls agency’s food program ‘under-supported, under-resourced’
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said the food side of the agency needs more attention Wednesday,…
STAT+: Patient groups push federal government to enforce health care price estimates
People don’t receive bills after going to a grocery store or a mechanic’s shop. They…
To gin up opposition to the proposed menthol ban, tobacco companies are turning to gas station ads
GETTYSBURG, Pa. — At the Gateway mini mart here, you can buy menthol-flavored hemp cigarettes,…