Health Care Checkup
August 12, 2022
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Today, the House is expected to vote on a $740 billion climate, health and tax package. It is anticipated that most, if not all, Democrats will vote in favor of the bill, while it is expected that no Republicans will vote in favor of it. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 includes investments to lower energy and health care costs, significantly reduce carbon emissions, and lower the federal deficit by roughly $300 billion. The legislation also extends Affordable Care Act subsidies through 2025, allows the government for the first time to negotiate some Medicare prescription drug prices, and caps the monthly out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 for Medicare beneficiaries. Additionally, the package will cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000 a year.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $90 million in American Rescue Plan funding to 1,400 community health centers across the country to improve health equity through enhanced data collection and reporting. The funds will be used to modernize data collection efforts so health centers will have better data on their patients’ health status and social determinants of health.
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new COVID-19 guidance, no longer recommending that unvaccinated individuals quarantine for five days if exposed to the virus. Instead, the new recommendation is that those individuals wear a “high-quality” mask for 10 days after the exposure and get tested on day five. The new guidance can be found here.
The CDC also released a new, national tool that can be used to “measure the cumulative impacts of environmental burden through the lenses of human health and health equity.” The Environmental Justice Index (EJI) uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rank the impacts of environmental injustice on health all across the country.
Earlier in the week, President Joe Biden announced his intent to appoint Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Bertagnolli would be the first woman to lead the NCI. Currently, she serves as the Richard E. Wilson professor of surgery in surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School and is a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts. Bertagnolli’s appointment comes at a time of “renewed attention” to President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative. Cancer Moonshot aims to reduce the cancer death rate by at least half over the next 25 years. Additional information can be found here.
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What to Expect Next Week: Congress will be out on recess for the rest of August. The Senate is expected to return on September 6 and the House will return on September 13. Our Health Care Checkup will also take a pause and resume the week of September 6.
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House to Vote on $740 Billion Climate, Health, and Tax Package
Today, the House is expected to vote on a $740 billion climate, health and tax package. It is anticipated that most, if not all, Democrats will vote in favor of the bill, while it is expected that no Republicans will vote in favor of it. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 includes investments to lower energy and health care costs, significantly reduce carbon emissions, and lower the federal deficit by roughly $300 billion. The legislation also extends Affordable Care Act subsidies through 2025, allows the government for the first time to negotiate some Medicare prescription drug prices, and caps the monthly out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 for Medicare beneficiaries. Additionally, the package will cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000 a year.
President Biden to Appoint a New National Cancer Institute Director
President Joe Biden intends to appoint Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Bertagnolli would be the first woman to lead the NCI. Currently, she serves as the Richard E. Wilson professor of surgery in surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School and is a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts. Bertagnolli’s appointment comes at a time of “renewed attention” to President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative. Cancer Moonshot aims to reduce the cancer death rate by at least half over the next 25 years. Additional information can be found here.
HHS Awards $90 Million in American Rescue Plan Funding to Promote Health Equity
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $90 million in American Rescue Plan funding to 1,400 community health centers across the country to improve health equity through enhanced data collection and reporting. The funds will be used to modernize data collection efforts so health centers will have better data on their patients’ health status and social determinants of health. A list of the award recipients can be found here.
CDC Eases Guidance on COVID-19 Testing and Quarantining
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new COVID-19 guidance, no longer recommending that unvaccinated individuals quarantine for five days if exposed to the virus. Instead, the new recommendation is that those individuals wear a “high-quality” mask for 10 days after the exposure and get tested on day five. Dr. Greta Massetti, a CDC Epidemiologist, said, “This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives.” The new guidance can be found here.
CDC Unveils New Tool to Measure Health Impacts of Environmental Burdens
The CDC released a new, national tool that can be used to “measure the cumulative impacts of environmental burden through the lenses of human health and health equity.” The Environmental Justice Index (EJI) uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rank the impacts of environmental injustice on health all across the country. The EJI maps can be used to identify areas that are in need of intervention to improve health and health equity. The EJI examines the prevalence of different health issues across the U.S., including high blood pressure, asthma, cancer, diabetes, and poor mental health. More on this new tool can be found here.
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SENATE HEARINGS AND EXECUTIVE SESSIONS |
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HOUSE HEARINGS AND EXECUTIVE SESSIONS |
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ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCEMENTS |
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Food and Drug Administration
Guidance Documents from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Institutes of Health
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