Last week:
In DC, the Senate HELP Committee held a hearing on insulin featuring a single panel of manufacturer CEOs, including David Ricks of Eli Lilly, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen of Novo Nordisk, Paul Hudson of Sanofi, alongside pharmacy benefit manager CEOs David Joyner of Aetna/CVS Health, Adam Kautzner of Cigna/Express Scripts, and Heather Cianfrocco of UnitedHealth/OptumRx. The hearing focused on list vs. net prices, formulary placements, Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), consolidation, and spread pricing.
In Massachusetts, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means released its FY2024 Budget Recommendations. 1049 amendments were filed by the 2 pm deadline on Friday. Senate Floor debate is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, May 23.
In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu filed a proposal late Friday to replace Boston’s now-banned City Council redistricting map, along with a rare request for the City Council to take up the matter at its next Wednesday meeting. The map and the request to expedite its approval come less than a week after a judge tossed out a different political boundary map approved by the mayor and the City council last year.
The Mayor has deemed May 30 as the latest possible date for the city to ensure a timely and secure Sept. 12 preliminary election in the city. The mayor’s proposal contains several differences from the map that the court rejected, including restoring the four, predominately white, high-turnout precincts in southeastern most parts of Dorchester to District 3, represented by outgoing Councilor Frank Baker. Wu’s map also restores a pair of public housing developments to District 2, the South Boston district represented by Council President Ed Flynn.
This week:
In DC, on Tuesday, the House Ways & Means Committee will hold a hearing on “Health Care Price Transparency: A Patient’s Right to Know,” and Wednesday, its Health Subcommittee plans a hearing on “Why Health Care is Unaffordable: Anticompetitive and Consolidated Markets.”
In Massachusetts, on Tuesday, the Joint Committee on Financial Services will hold a hybrid public hearing on bills related to pharmacy matters. Of interest to our industry, the agenda includes H978/S612 – An act relative to promoting healthcare access and affordability for patients.