WHAT END-OF-THE-YEAR PACKAGE? Congress’ recent agreement to temporarily fund the government has Washington emptying out for Thanksgiving and lobbyists, congressional staffers and at least one key lawmaker confronting the reality that there could be no more legislative vehicles for health policy priorities this year. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, told Prescription Pulse the short-term government funding deal likely prevents a typical year-end omnibus spending package to which health legislation could be attached. “It would be tough to do before the end of this calendar year,” Guthrie said. “We’ve got to do offsets, we gotta do full committee markup, and then you’ve got to get it across the floor.” The House and Senate have worked to pass health care priorities out of committee, such as transparency requirements for pharmacy benefit managers and tweaks to Medicare physician pay reimbursement. But other efforts, such as reaching a bipartisan agreement in the House on legislation to address generic drug shortages, have yet to be hashed out in committee. Lobbyists are eyeing a few potential year-end legislative vehicles, such as congressional action on a supplemental package with funding for Israel or Ukraine or the National Defense Authorization Act. But none of those are certainties. One lobbyist with knowledge of the situation granted anonymity to discuss the year-end legislative outlook said the “million-dollar question for every health care entity” is whether a standalone health package could be moved. “Optimists would say the [Medicare Physician Fee Schedule] ‘fix’ could be the basis of a health package that could move alone,” said another lobbyist with knowledge of the conversations granted anonymity to discuss the situation. “I’m skeptical.” The most likely path for health care legislation comes early next year: the Jan. 19 deadline for the so-called laddered continuing resolution that includes FDA funding. IT’S TUESDAY. WELCOME BACK TO PRESCRIPTION PULSE. Your host has already baked a pecan pie for Thanksgiving and foresees at least one more and possibly a pumpkin pie. Send news, tips and pie recipes to Lauren Gardner (lgardner@politico.com or @Gardner_LM), David Lim (dlim@politico.com or @davidalim) and Katherine Ellen Foley (kfoley@politico.com or @katherineefoley). TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Ben Leonard talks with POLITICO health care reporter Ashleigh Furlong, who explains the Lancet Countdown's report that warns of the dire consequences of rising temperatures and increasing energy emission — and the potential catastrophic threats climate change poses to human health.
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