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Anti-abortion group wades in to Mississippi Senate race. The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List announced a five-figure campaign of digital ads in the surprisingly competitive Mississippi Senate runoff election on Nov. 27. Women Speak Out PAC, a partner of the group, will release a series of digital ads targeting Democrat Mike Espy for his support of abortion. Espy is running against GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to succeed former Senator Thad Cochran who retired. SBA List’s participation underscores the surprising recent competitiveness of the race. Hyde-Smith made a series of gaffes that at a recent donor event that she would attend a “public hanging” and also made comments about how it should be harder for liberal students to vote. SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said that the ads will target Espy who “claims to oppose abortion, but his record of supporting legislation to impose abortion on demand through birth across the nation speaks louder than words.”

Welcome to Philip Klein’s Daily on Healthcare, compiled by Washington Examiner Executive Editor Philip Klein (@philipaklein), Senior Healthcare Writer Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and Healthcare Reporter Robert King (@rking_19).  Email [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list.

Bernie Sanders unveils bill suspiciously similar to Trump drug prices proposal. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., released a new bill on Tuesday that would require drug companies to lower prices to match prices from other countries or lose market exclusivity. The bill would require the Trump administration to make sure Americans don’t pay more for prescription drugs than the average price of five countries: Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan. If a drugmaker does not lower prices to that level, then the “federal government would approve cheaper generic versions of these drugs, regardless of any patents or market exclusivities in place.” The bill goes farther than a proposal from the Trump administration that would tie prices paid by Medicare for physician-administered drugs like chemotherapy to the average price paid by countries overseas like Germany or France. Sanders and Khanna’s proposal goes further by taking away market exclusivity and would apply to drugs purchased by people who have an employer-sponsored plan, which is the majority of Americans, or people who are uninsured.

House Democrats want to investigate DOJ’s decision to not defend Obamacare. The likely next leader of the House Judiciary Committee on Monday promised to investigate why the Justice Department declined to defend Obamacare in a lawsuit from 20 states, which, if successful, would eradicate the law. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., sent a letter to acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker signaling his intent to press the department on the decision issued in June. Nadler is expected to take over the House Judiciary Committee when Democrats assume control of the House in early January. Nadler wrote to Whitaker that the Justice Department ignored a constitutional duty to enforce acts of Congress. He said the DOJ neglected that duty by not defending the Affordable Care Act against the lawsuit. Nadler’s letter referenced the resignations of three career attorneys in response to the decision.

Scott Lloyd out at Office of Refugee Resettlement, heads to new role. Scott Lloyd, the head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement who came under scrutiny for his anti-abortion actions in his role, will be changing jobs within the federal government. Lloyd will be heading to the Department of Health Human Services’ Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives, where he will be senior adviser. The development, first reported in the Daily Caller, was confirmed by HHS press secretary Evelyn Stauffer. “While I have valued my time at the Office of Refugee Resettlement, I am excited to take on this new challenge,” Lloyd said in a statement, adding that he was “proud” of what his former agency had accomplished. In his role at the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Lloyd blocked several teens who were in government custody and in the country illegally from getting abortions. His actions drew outcry from Democratic members of Congress and triggered numerous lawsuits. He also oversaw the care of thousands of migrant children who arrived to the U.S. border unaccompanied, as well as efforts to reunify children with their families when parent were prosecuted for crossing the border illegally.

Tom Price is back, this time with the incoming Georgia governor. Tom Price, the former Trump administration health secretary who resigned following revelations about his private jet travel, will be joining the transition team of Georgia Gov.-elect Brian Kemp. As a member of the transition team, Price will have a say in crafting healthcare policy for the state and in advising Kemp on which officials should join the governor’s office. One of the first items Kemp will put forward is the governor’s budget request. Price was the first member of Trump’s cabinet to resign. He stirred up public and congressional outrage, and drew the ire of the president, by using close to $1 million in taxpayer money to pay for travel on private jets. Past health secretaries took commercial flights for official business. Price, an orthopedic surgeon and six-term Georgia GOP congressman who spoke out against wasteful government spending, resigned from his post in September 2017. He was replaced by the current Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar, in January.

CDC creates task force to find cause of spike in polio-like illness afflicting kids. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is putting together a task force aimed at finding and containing the cause of a spike of a rare illness paralyzing children. The CDC said on Monday that the task force would include various scientific, medical, and public health experts to investigate why the illness, called acute flaccid myelitis, has increased in the U.S. over the past couple of years. There is no known cause of the disease, which affects the central nervous system. “This task force will ensure that the full capacity of the scientific community is engaged and working together to provide important answers and solutions to actively detect, more effectively treat, and ultimately prevent AFM and its consequences,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a release on Monday. So far this year, there have been 106 confirmed cases of the illness across 29 states, and the vast majority have affected kids aged 18 or younger, CDC said.

Nearly half of the public now believes GMO foods are bad for you. Americans are about evenly divided on whether genetically modified foods are worse for your health and about the risk of additives like food coloring, according to a new poll. Forty-nine percent of Americans believe GMO foods are worse for your health than non-GMO foods, according to the poll released Monday by the Pew Research Center, up from 39 percent in 2016. The findings could influence policy decisions regarding the use of additives or genetically modified organisms, which some advocacy groups have called for the U.S. government to ban. The Pew poll also detailed heavy skepticism about food coloring and preservatives. The poll also asked respondents about the use of additives like antibiotics and hormones in meat and pesticides when growing fruit and vegetables. Pew found that 51 percent of respondents believe that additives pose a health risk. Another 48 percent believe there is a risk, but that the additives are in such a small amount in food they don’t pose a serious risk. Advocacy groups are calling for greater scrutiny about the use of additives. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently called for new regulations and oversight of additives in foods that include flavorings and chemicals.

FDA approves first treatment for rare immune disease. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Gamifant, a drug that helps treat people with a rare disease in which the immune system doesn’t work properly and causes inflammation. The illness, know as primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, formerly had no treatment. Common side effects reported in clinical trials included infections, hypertension, infusion-related reactions, low potassium and fever.

FDA to allow labels saying olive oil improves heart health, but with a catch. The FDA will allow certain olive, sunflower, and canola oils to carry labels saying that their products could help to avoid heart disease, but only if they replace other types of fat in a person’s diet. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb cautioned in a blog post Monday that the evidence about the oils wasn’t yet conclusive, but called it “promising.” The government is allowing such health labels in the hopes that people will buy and eat more nutritious foods, driving down rates of chronic illnesses such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer. The health claims on the oil packaging will only be allowed if the products have at least 70 percent of oleic acid, a type of fat that’s been shown to have improve cholesterol levels when it replaces saturated fats such as those found in butter, cheese, and fatty beef.

Joe Kennedy calls for federal marijuana legalization. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., called for the federal government to legalize marijuana because the government has ceded its responsibility to the states as part of a “badly broken” policy. Kennedy, who wrote an op-ed in STAT News on Tuesday, has been a staunch advocate for improving mental health treatment while in Congress. The three-term congressman will also likely be a member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over healthcare, when Democrats assume the House next year.  Kennedy, whose state recently opened legal marijuana shops, wrote that the rapid liberalization of state policies on marijuana has created an untenable system. “One thing is clear to me: Our federal policy on marijuana is badly broken, benefiting neither the elderly man suffering from cancer whom marijuana may help nor the young woman prone to substance use disorder whom it may harm” he wrote. “The patchwork of inconsistent state laws compounds the dysfunction.”

Rick Scott’s healthcare fortune will make him one of the richest members of Congress. Republican Rick Scott has defeated Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson after a manual recount, winning not only a U.S. Senate seat in Florida but also earning the title of one of the wealthiest members of Congress. Scott’s net worth is estimated at about $255 million, a fortune that came from working in the healthcare industry. His wife, Ann, holds much of the assets in a blind trust worth roughly $173 million, according to financial disclosures made public July 2018. Scott’s wealth came from co-founding the for-profit healthcare company Columbia Hospital Corporation, which merged in 1994 to form Columbia/HCA. In 1997, Scott was pressured to resign as CEO after the company was accused of defrauding government healthcare programs including Medicare and Medicaid. Scott then co-founded the urgent care clinic chain Solantic Corporation in 2001. Scott previously owned stock in drug company giant Gilead Sciences, which makes the hepatitis C-curing drug Sovaldi. The drug carries a list price of $84,000 and rids patients of the liver disease, which can otherwise progress and require a liver transplant. Scott has owned various companies or stocks devoted to supplements and founded a group to oppose Obamacare known as Conservatives for Patients’ Rights. He also has held investments in the oil, gas, and energy sectors.

RUNDOWN

Axios Sloan-Kettering’s drug expenses explode

The Hill Drug industry nervous around Grassley’s new role

Politico The Bernie Sanders-Trump mind meld on drug prices

Wall Street Journal FDA’s menthol ban would be a slow burn

Roll Call On ‘Medicare for all,’ Democrats tread lightly

Associated Press Trial over Kentucky’s abortion law in judge’s hands

NPR Rhode Island prisons push to get inmates best treatment for opioid addiction