Health Care Reporter on Capitol Hill for @POLITICOPro/@POLITICO. Making puns about the news. Write to me: aollstein@politico.com
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Apr 24 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
NEW w/ @joshgerstein: Abortion is back at the Supreme Court today. Here's what both sides (Idaho GOP v. the Biden admin) will argue, the justices to watch, how it could impact states beyond Idaho and how it could impact health care beyond abortion. politico.com/news/2024/04/2…
As we predicted, Idaho's attorney opens by arguing that EMTALA does not require doctors to perform abortions, even when they are needed to stabilize patients in a medical emergency.
BREAKING: Arizona Supreme Court rules to uphold the state’s 1864 near total abortion ban, which will wipe out nearly all access in the state (currently up to 15 weeks). Voters will likely have the chance to override this ban in November via ballot initiative.
Arizona could determine control of the House, Senate and White House this fall. More on how abortion is shaping those races —> politico.com/news/2024/03/2…
Sep 11, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: Activists are occupying @SpeakerMcCarthy’s office demanding a full 5 year reauthorization of PEPFAR, which some Rs are opposing. Background: politico.com/news/2023/09/0…
.@housingworks and @HealthGAP demonstrators are about to be arrested
Jul 19, 2023 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
NEW: Texas women who suffered medical complications when they were denied abortions are back in state court today (represented by @ReproRights) challenging the state's ban. Texas has asked the judge to dismiss the case.
@ReproRights Some background on the lead plaintiff in the case -->
Apr 14, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: Danco, the manufacturer of the brand-name version of the abortion drug mifepristone, has appealed to the Supreme Court to stop restrictions from taking effect this weekend. documentcloud.org/documents/2377…
The company argues the 5th Circuit's ruling is, temporarily, a ban on the pills, because they would have to spend months working with the FDA to update the label in order to comply. Until then, "Danco cannot legally market and distribute mifepristone." s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2377…
Exclusive: Anti-abortion groups and their allies in elected office are launching an unusual new strategy after suffering a wave of election defeats — using environmental laws to try to block the distribution of abortion pills.
politico.com/news/2022/11/2…
It's a multipronged plan that includes petitioning (and potentially suing) the FDA, state and federal legislation, action from GOP state AGs and a PR campaign aimed at chipping away at broad public support for abortions early in pregnancy. politico.com/news/2022/11/2…
Sep 13, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: Senate Republicans led by @GrahamBlog are introducing a national ban on abortions later in pregnancy tomorrow.
@GrahamBlog The name of the bill is "Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act." Previous bills he has intro'd with similar names have banned abortion @ 20 wks of pregnancy. Text of this version is not yet available but there are reports it moves the line to 15 wks
Feb 28, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: Senate fails to advance the Women's Health Protection Act as both sides of the abortion fight vow to make the outcome of tonight's vote a main feature of their pitch to midterm voters. The 46-48 vote comes just before the 6mo anniversary of Texas' 6-week abortion ban.
Even Republicans who have supported abortion rights in the past voted no tonight. @SenatorCollins, who has her own competing bill to codify Roe v. Wade, told reporters tonight that she thinks the Dem bill has "very troubling" implications for religious freedom.
Sep 30, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
NEW: Democrats vowed to take on Big Pharma and the overwhelming majority of the party wants to do so. But leaders are now working to water down their drug pricing plans in the face of resistance from a handful of members in the House & Senate politico.com/news/2021/09/3… w @misswilson@misswilson The changes under discussion include:
-subjecting fewer drugs to negotiation
-not extending the lower prices to people on private insurance
-not pegging prices here to those paid by countries that negotiate with pharma companies politico.com/news/2021/09/3…
Sep 27, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: Amid calls to shrink their social spending package, Democrats are grappling with which health care priorities they're willing to sacrifice. Medicaid expansion and home health care are particularly vulnerable to cutbacks. Here's why --> politico.com/news/2021/09/2…
CLYBURN, Congress' most powerful advocate for Medicaid expansion, is voicing new willingness to scale back the provision to just 5 years rather than a permanent authorization.
FWIW Peters just voted for the Medicare benefits expansion section of the bill, while Schrader voted not.
Sep 15, 2021 • 11 tweets • 7 min read
Annnnd @EnergyCommerce is back for Day 3 of their marathon markup. @RepAnnaEshoo is Zooming in from California, prompting remarks about how it's still dark there.
@EnergyCommerce@RepAnnaEshoo .@RepAnnaEshoo sounds the alarm about the lack of a funding boost for the FDA in Dems' bill.
Sep 14, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
This includes closing the Medicaid gap in 12 holdout states, one of the top priorities of Democratic leadership politico.com/news/2021/09/0…
Republicans on the committee are now bringing up Medicare for All and arguing that closing the Medicaid gap is "subterfuge" and "bait and switch" Dems are using to "backfill that promise" (bc the plan starts them on private ACA plans before moving them to Medicaid in a few yrs)
Sep 14, 2021 • 4 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: Democrats' drug pricing plans are in jeopardy amid a revolt by a small handful of House centrists, and the turmoil is threatening the party's other health goals on Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare politico.com/news/2021/09/1…
With the wonderful @heatherscope@sarahnferris@heatherscope@sarahnferris Democrats on the Hill told us that should the centrist members tank the drug pricing piece of the bill in committee, it could still be added back further in the legislative process. Still, lawmakers and advocacy groups are scrambling to shore up votes. politico.com/news/2021/09/1…
Jul 22, 2021 • 4 tweets • 4 min read
NEW: Many states getting hit hard by the Delta variant have recently banned their own local officials, health depts and schools from requiring masks, vaccines or social distancing. As hospitalizations spike, they're not backing down. politico.com/news/2021/07/2…
with @DanCGoldberg@DanCGoldberg .@ASTHO and other health groups are sounding the alarm, warning the new laws will not only hamper the Covid response but prevent basic public health efforts to stop foodborne illnesses, promote regular childhood vaccines & more. politico.com/news/2021/07/2…
Mar 12, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Biden opens his primetime speech on the anniversary of the pandemic by slamming the Trump admin (not by name) for meeting the virus at first with "silence" and then allowing it to spread wildly.
"Photos from 2019 feel like they're from another era," he observes.
Biden holds up a piece of paper he keeps in his pocket at all times with the latest number of people who have died of Covid (now well above 1/2 a million)
Mar 11, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
BREAKING: Biden's speech later tonight will outline plans to get the country "closer to normal" by July 4 via a vaccination campaign open to everyone in the country by May 1.
To achieve this, the admin will ramp up distribution through pharmacies, FEMA-run mega sites, community health centers and mobile clinics. They're also deploying thousands more military members and allowing dentists, midwives, med students & others to help administer the shots.
Mar 11, 2021 • 11 tweets • 12 min read
.@SenSchumer tees up procedural vote on @XavierBecerra, who is set to be confirmed next week along party lines.
"I'm perplexed that none of my Republican colleagues would vote for him," he said.
@SenSchumer@XavierBecerra Schumer touts the Senate's success in confirming Cabinet members -- 16 so far, not including Haaland and Becerra, who are up next. More on the pace of confirmations from @marianne_levine: politico.com/news/2021/03/1…
Mar 10, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: A state court is allowing Texas to kick Planned Parenthood out of the Medicaid program, meaning about 8,000 patients can no longer go to @PPFA clinics for care. Texas has been attempting to do this for several years, as have other conservative states.
@PPFA The judge wrote that she did not make the decision "lightly" and that the underlying facts of the case gave her "great pause," particularly when it comes to access to health care for low income people in the middle of a pandemic. She said the issue is now in federal courts' hands
Mar 2, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: The Senate parliamentarian just ruled that COBRA subsidies to cover the private health insurance premiums of laid off workers can stay in the Covid bill.
@RonWyden: "Workers who have been laid off need affordable health care for their families now more than ever."
@RonWyden Some labor groups, including @unitehere, are lobbying the Senate to increase the subsidies from 85% to 100% of premiums, arguing that even 15% of the cost of these expensive plans is more than unemployed people can afford.
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