Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Congressional Calls Grow To Rein In PBM Business Tactics
A key House Republican ramped up his criticism of pharmacy benefit managers Tuesday, calling for the government to dismantle companies that have consolidated drug supply chain operations. (Wilkerson, 6/13)
In another bid to lower prescription drug prices, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued a report showing that medicines developed with help from the National Institutes of Health have often cost Americans more than what is paid in other countries. And he called on the agency to reinstate a provision in federal law that would require companies to set reasonable prices when they license NIH inventions. (Silverman, 6/13)
On artificial intelligence in health care 鈥
Lawmakers are beginning to consider ways in which artificial intelligence systems are involved in inventive processes like discovery of new drugs, and how the use of such technologies affects what is, and is not, patentable. (Ratnam, 6/13)
Delegates voted Monday聽to study the benefits and unforeseen circumstances of A.I., including large language models such as聽GPTs and other intelligence-generated medical content, and propose appropriate state and federal regulations, according to AMA documents. In those documents, A.I. is defined as augmented intelligence, a type of technology that still requires human involvement.聽(Hudson, 6/13)
On the federal and state push for gun control 鈥
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) defended the Biden administration鈥檚 restriction on pistol braces and rejected arguments from Republicans who claim it violates the Second Amendment, saying, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want them to repeal the Second Amendment. We want them to read the Second Amendment.鈥 Raskin argued that his Republican colleagues repeatedly invoke the second half of the Second Amendment, describing the right to keep and bear arms, but gloss over the first half that says, 鈥渁 well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state.鈥 (Fortinsky, 6/13)
The Maine聽House of Representatives defeated a measure Tuesday to enshrine a 72-hour waiting period before gun purchases. Maine sticks out nationally as a Democratic-controlled state with a strong hunting culture that combines loose gun laws聽and聽 high levels of gun ownership聽with lower levels of gun mortality, although federal data from 2021 showed the latter was the highest in New England. Voters in 2016 rejected a referendum on mandatory background checks on private gun sales. (Kobin, 6/13)
