KHN’s ‘What the Health’: Spending bill slowdown

The fiscal year started a month and a half ago, but Congress has still not agreed on an annual spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services - or any of the other annual spending bills that fund the government.

Meanwhile, Congress IS moving on efforts to further restrict tobacco and vaping products, particularly to limit their marketing to underage users. The Trump administration has been vowing to use its own authority to crack down on a youth vaping epidemic, but so far has not acted.

The administration is moving on the drug price front, however, filing a lawsuit against drugmaker Gilead for allegedly infringing a government-owned patent on a drug regimen to prevent HIV.

This week's panelists are Julie Rovner from Kaiser Health News, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.

Rovner also interviews Dan Weissmann, host of the podcast "An Arm and a Leg," about why health care costs so much and what patients can do about it. KHN is co-producing the podcast's new season.

Among the takeaways from this week's podcast:

• Among the partisan arguments holding up the HHS funding bill are disagreements on spending for family planning programs and the amount of an increase for HHS as a whole.
• A House subcommittee this week approved new regulations that would limit flavors for vaping and other tobacco products. But that comes as the administration appears likely to step back from Trump's earlier vow to outlaw flavored products.
• Some lawmakers and administration officials suggest that any legislation to prohibit flavored e-cigarette products should include carve-outs for some groups, including small businesses that cater to vapers and to members of the military.
• The recent revelation that Google is working with a major health care system to analyze patient records is raising concerns about consumers' privacy. That and other recent issues surround health care tech may signal that the federal privacy law, HIPAA, needs to be updated.
• The Trump administration's suit against Gilead seeking to bring down costs of its HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis drug may signal that the government is ready to take on other companies with high price tags on drugs developed with federal support.

Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too:

Julie Rovner: The Philadelphia Inquirer's "A Philly woman's broken back and $36,000 bill shows how some health insurance brokers trick consumers into skimpy plans," by Sarah Gantz.

Rebecca Adams: CQ Roll Call's "Surprise billing fight highlights hurdles for bolder health care changes," by Mary Ellen McIntire.

Alice Ollstein: Politico's "Trump allies received hundreds of thousands of dollars under federal health contract," by Dan Diamond and Adam Cancryn.

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