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Chris Collins’ indictment shines light on inadequacy of stock trading law. House Republican Chris Collins’ indictment for insider trading at a drug company exposed a glaring loophole in the 2012 STOCK Act that was intended to curb the practice among lawmakers, advocates say. Patient advocacy groups say that lawmakers like Collins, formerly a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, should not be allowed to trade in businesses that they oversee. “Congress absolutely can, and should, explore new rules to tighten our securities law and shut down any sort of insider trading, including by members of Congress,” said Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., in a statement to the Washington Examiner. The STOCK Act prohibits a lawmaker from using confidential information they glean from their official position for personal gain, but that’s not what Collins is charged with doing. The STOCK Act did, however, also include stronger disclosures of stock purchases by lawmakers, which helped the advocacy group Public Citizen identify questions with Collins’ stock trading. Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for the group, said that the rules should be stricter. “We should not allow members of Congress to trade in businesses that they oversee in their official capacity,” he said.

Welcome to Philip Klein’s Daily on Healthcare, compiled by Washington Examiner Managing 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.

Now House members want stricter rules. The Senate already has a rule that prohibits senators from serving on boards while being a senator. Now two House members want to introduce the same rule in the lower chamber. Reps. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., and Tom Reed, R-Pa., introduced on Thursday a resolution to match the Senate’s rule. “There should never be a doubt in the public’s mind to lead them to think their Representative could be corrupted or incriminated because of their stake or position in a private company,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

Trump administration overhauls Obamacare program says it isn’t saving money. The Trump administration is overhauling an Obamacare program officials say is losing, instead of saving, federal dollars. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released on Thursday new regulations that will squeeze accountable care organizations, which are groups of healthcare providers, forcing them to take on more risk. “We can no longer continue to run a program that was losing money for taxpayers,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma tol reporters Thursday. Currently, an ACO can be in the program for six years and not have to pay anything if it doesn’t meet the savings target. However, it would still get a portion of the savings below that target, and they also get waivers for regulatory relief. The new regulation would only allow an ACO to be in the program for two years and not pay anything. After that second year, an ACO will be on the hook for any costs above the target.

ACO group says that the regulation will result in organizations leaving the program. The National Association of ACOs said in a statement that new rule will have unintended consequences on the healthcare system. “The administration’s proposed changes to the ACO program will halt transformation to a higher quality, more affordable, patient-centered health care industry, stunting efforts to improve and coordinate care for millions of Medicare beneficiaries,” said NAACOS President and CEO Clif Gaus. A survey from the association released back in May talked with 82 ACOs that have been in the program for two years and haven’t had to take on any risk. The survey found that 71 percent of the ACOs would likely leave the program if they had to take on risk.

Drug pricing group targets California Democrat. The political arm of a drug-pricing advocacy group is targeting Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., for her donations from pharmaceutical companies. The $500,000 buy of direct mailers from Patients for Affordable Drugs Action is the first targeting a Democrat during this election cycle, although the group has helped Republicans up for re-election. “Anna Eshoo’s record on drug prices is terrible, and the reason why is obvious,” said David Mitchell, founder of the group, in a statement. “She’s taken enormous sums of money from drug corporations and she does their bidding in Washington.” The group charges that Eshoo’s name has been “conspicuously absent” from important pieces of legislation tackling prices. The direct mailer represents the first attack from the group on a Democrat. It has previously attacked the record of Bob Hugin, a former pharma CEO running against Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. It also donated to the re-election campaign of Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., who has introduced a bill in the House to end a scheme that drug companies use to thwart generic competition.

Six-figure ad campaign hits Joe Manchin for mixed record on abortion. The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony’s list is launching a six-figure ad campaign in West Virginia slamming Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin for his mixed record on abortion. Manchin is up for re-election in a red state that strongly supports President Trump and whose residents are deeply opposed to abortion. SBA List is spending $785,000 on TV and radio ads that will hit Manchin for his vote against a bill restricting federal funding to Planned Parenthood. The ads will air beginning Saturday and urge voters to pressure Manchin to vote for the Women’s Health Care Act, a bill that would ban federal funding from going to Planned Parenthood clinics. In November, Manchin will go up against West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who has strong support from SBA List. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president for the organization, accused Manchin in a statement of flip-flopping on the issue of abortion. “He has caved to pressure from Democratic Party leadership and the abortion lobby to vote in support of Planned Parenthood and said he would do so again,” she said.

FDA broke monthly generic drug approval record in July. The Food and Drug Administration approved or tentatively approved a record 126 generic drugs in July, the agency reported Thursday, an indication that Republicans are getting the faster approvals they have sought. Greater generic competition with pricier brand-name drugs is often thought to be a critical factor in improving drug prices. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb tweeted on Thursday that the total was the highest monthly amount ever in the history of the generic drug program. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans often argue that greater generic competition will lower prescription drug prices. Generic approval times have lowered in recent years in part due to the installation of a user fee program through which generic drug companies pay the FDA every time they submit a new application for approval. The FDA in turn uses that money to hire new staff and improve the drug approval process.

Trump administration ends Medicaid loophole in drug rebates. Drug companies will be unable to game a requirement to give states large prescription rebates through Medicaid under a law the Trump administration implemented Thursday. The guidance closes a loophole that drug companies exploited by making superficial changes to existing drugs to inflate their costs and thus pay states less than they owed. The changes allowed drug companies to treat the medicines as new drugs and change the rebate calculation. “This is the kind of abusive behavior from drug companies that this administration will not tolerate,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in announcing the change at the American Legislative Exchange Council in New Orleans. The rules around these types of drugs, known as “line extensions,” were changed under legislation President Trump signed into law in February. Drug companies are required by law to give rebates to states to cover people under Medicaid, who are low-income. They must provide the lowest price available and, in exchange, states have to cover the drugs offered. Medicaid is a program that paid for by both the federal and state governments, so both will see savings from the changes. The Congressional Budget Office estimated savings at $6.5 billion over a decade.

GOP committee leaders skeptical of Trump’s bid to overhaul Medicare drug rebates.  House and Senate GOP committee leaders are wary of the Trump administration’s potential move to revamp drug rebates in Medicare, which administration officials believe are the reason for higher drug prices. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney on Thursday to consider the full economic effect of a proposed rule over rebates negotiated for Medicare beneficiaries. Their skepticism puts them at odds with the Trump administration’s efforts to overhaul how rebates are negotiated. “Depending on the nature of the policies contemplated, possible changes could ripple across the healthcare sector, altering a major sector of the U.S. economy that Americans depend upon for their health and well-being,” the letter said. Hatch is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Walden chairs the House Energy & Commerce Committee, both panels deal with healthcare. They want OMB to perform a comprehensive analysis on how the rule would affect healthcare companies.

AARP worried Congress will roll back Medicare drug changes.  The AARP is warning lawmakers not to roll back a change to Medicare that forces drug companies to pay more for seniors’ drug costs. The senior citizen lobbying group issued a warning Wednesday to lawmakers who are seeking to revisit a decision Congress made in March to force drugmakers to offer a stiffer discount for some Medicare seniors. More than 200 Republican and Democratic representatives have indicated they’re open to undoing the reform. “Unfortunately, there are continuing efforts to undo the reforms included in the [Bipartisan Budget Act] and increase drug costs for older Americans,” the letter from the AARP said. Back in March, the spending deal included a change to the “donut hole” for Medicare Part D, the program’s prescription drug plan. After a senior and their drug plan spend a certain amount of money on prescription drugs on Medicare Part D, the senior falls into a coverage gap, the donut hole, in which they have to solely cover the cost of prescription drugs. The senior can get out of the donut hole after they spend a certain amount on prescription drugs, but AARP has long complained that it causes major financial strife for seniors. The spending deal ended the donut hole a year earlier in 2019 instead of 2020. Congress also required drug companies to give a higher discount for costs for seniors in the donut hole.

Rate of opioid abuse quadruples among women giving birth. The rate of women misusing opioids at the time they give birth quadrupled over the course of 15 years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, published Thursday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report, found that the rate of opioid misuse increased from 1.5 per 1,000 deliveries in 1999 to 6.5 per 1,000 deliveries in 2014. Roughly 24,715 pregnant women had opioid use disorder at labor and delivery in 2014, according to a CDC spokeswoman from the division of reproductive health. Taking opioids during pregnancy can lead to stillbirth, miscarriage, pre-term birth, maternal mortality, or neonatal abstinence syndrome in babies.

Seattle soda tax generates over $10M in the first six months. Seattle has generated more than $10 million in taxes from the sale of sugary drinks since the levy was first imposed six months ago. The tax of 1.75 cents per fluid ounce has raked in $5.8 million dollars just in second-quarter payments, and officials are optimistic the next quarter will surpass expectations, Fox Business reported. Before the tax was imposed, officials estimated it would raise approximately $14.8 million in 2018, according to the Seattle Times, but it will likely surpass that if sales continue at their current pace. The Seattle City Council passed the tax last June, exempting diet sodas and drinks with milk as their primary ingredient. Advocates of the tax said at the time that it would discourage people from buying sugary drinks, which have been associated with a variety of health problems.

RUNDOWN

The Hill Fearing ‘blue wave,’ drug, insurance companies build defense to single payer

Axios Netflix, but for prescription drugs

New York Times Companies respond to an urgent healthcare need: Transportation

Reveal Care homes used untrained rehab workers while collecting millions from Medicaid

Associated Press Doctors nudged by overdose letter prescribe fewer opioids

Bloomberg Generic drugmakers struggle despite U.S. push for copycats

Wall Street Journal Meet the chatbots providing mental healthcare

STAT News Can this man bring science back to the White House?