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Health Policy Updates for the Week of April 29, 2019

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The Headlines

  1. Seven congressional staff members joined this year’s Project Health Education program, hosted by Duke University Health System and Duke University School of Medicine.
  2. The House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee released its draft FY 2020 spending bill and an accompanying press release and summary. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to consider it on May 8.
  3. The House Rules Committee held a hearing on H.R. 1384 – Medicare for All Act of 2019, the first this Congress on the subject.
  4. The American Cures Act and American Innovation Act were reintroduced.
  5. Dr. Greg Murphy and Dr. Joan Perry will go to a runoff on July 9 in the Republican primary election for North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District.
  6. Hearing highlights from this week below.

The Details

1. Project Health Education
In case you missed it, Duke Health Government Relations held their 9th Project Health Education April 17-19, in coordination with Duke University Health System, Duke University School of Medicine, and UNC-CH School of Medicine and Adams School of Dentistry. Seven congressional staff members joined this year’s program to “become doctors” and learn more about the missions of academic medical centers. Check out the article on Duke Today for more about their time at Duke!

Project Health Education

2. House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee Releases Draft FY2020 Spending Bill
The House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday released text of its draft FY 2020 spending bill and an accompanying press release and summary. The subcommittee held its mark up on Tuesday. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to consider it on May 8.
 

  • $41.084 for NIH in FY 2020, an increase of $2 billion (5.12%) above the FY 2019 level. If enacted, this would represent the 5th year of real growth for the NIH. Within the total:
    • Alzheimer’s research ($2.4 billion);
    • HIV/AIDS research ($3.2 billion);
    • All of Us precision medicine initiative ($500 million);
    • BRAIN initiative ($411 million);
    • Cancer Moonshot initiative ($195 million);
    • Childhood Cancer Data initiative ($50 million);
    • Research Centers in Minority Institutions ($75 million); and
    • firearm injury and mortality prevention research ($25 million – with another $25 million for this provision in the CDC, totaling $50 million).
  • $358 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), an increase of $20 million above the 2019 enacted level.
  • $1.2 billion for HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions programs to support the medical workforce, an increase of $138 million above the current level.

The text of the draft spending bill maintains language prohibiting the administration from making changes to reimbursement for facilities and administrative expenses and maintains the HHS salary cap at Executive Level II of the federal pay scale.
 
Last month, our office helped secure support from NC Reps. Butterfield, Price, Adams, Rouzer, Hudson, and Meadows on a letter to House leaders supporting at least $41.6 billion for NIH in FY 2020. As a reminder, finalizing these funding totals will require enactment of a bipartisan budget agreement to raise the discretionary spending caps for non-defense spending.
 
3. Medicare for All
On Tuesday, the House Rules Committee held a hearing on H.R. 1384 – Medicare for All Act of 2019. This hearing was the first, but not the last, of the Medicare for All hearings. House Ways and Means and Budget Committees plan to have hearings of their own in the near future.
 
Also this week the Congressional Budget Office projected that a Medicare for All, single payer style system would “substantially” increase government spending. They did not score either of the Medicare for All bills that have been introduced, but it is expected that their analysis will be a subject at an upcoming House Budget Committee hearing.
 
4. American Cures Act and the American Innovation Act Reintroduced
On Tuesday the American Cures Act and American Innovation Act were reintroduced. The American Cures Act would provide annual budget increases of five percent plus inflation at America’s top four biomedical research agencies: the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense Health Program, and the Veterans Medical and Prosthetics Research Program.
 
The American Innovation Act would provide annual budget increases of five percent for cutting edge research at five important federal research agencies: The National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Office of Science, the Department of Defense Science and Technology Programs, the National Institute of Standards and Technology Scientific and Technical Research, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Science Directorate.
 
5. Congressional Race
Dr. Greg Murphy and Dr. Joan Perry will go to a runoff in the Republican primary election for North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District. The winner of the July 9 runoff will move on to the general election on September 10, facing Democrat Allen Thomas, Libertarian Tim Harris, and Constitution Party candidate Greg Holt. The 9th District primary is set for May 14, where 10 Republicans are running.
 
6. Committee Hearings