Budget

Three provisions of the House-passed 21st Century Cures Act -- Patient-Focused Drug Development, Priority Review for Breakthrough Devices, and Modern Trial Design and Evidence Development -- have made their way into appropriations report language cleared by the House agriculture appropriations subcommittee Wednesday (April 13), a House Energy and Commerce Committee staffer confirmed for Inside Health Policy.

The House agriculture appropriations subcommittee cleared a funding bill Wednesday (April 13) with report language that would delay FDA’s controversial guidance bringing laboratory developed tests under the agency’s medical device paradigm, according to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who said she was upset to see such language in the bill.

A bill to cap non-economic damages in medical malpractice suits met the same opposition from states'-rights conservatives at a House Judiciary Committee markup on Tuesday (March 22) as it did in 2011 when the GOP tried to pass the bill.

Every Democrat on the Senate health committee has signed on to legislation that would provide an additional $5 billion annually for a handful of programs at FDA and the National Institutes of Health for the next 10 years.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) raised concerns Thursday that FDA doesn't have enough money to implement the food safety law, noting at an appropriations hearing that the agency has received less than half of what the Congressional Budget Office said would be needed to implement the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA).

The White House laid out as part of its 2017 budget request ways to lower prescription drug costs for state Medicaid programs, coming as the program plays into election-year politics and becomes embroiled in the drug pricing debate.

The White House on Tuesday (Feb. 9) touted plans to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health in fiscal 2017, but that bump is contingent upon Congress approving mandatory funding for the agency, a move research advocates worry would not materialize on Capitol Hill.

HHS is asking Congress for the authority to spend $535 million on the health insurance marketplaces as part of a $2.1 billion fiscal 2017 budget for the exchanges that aims to bring in $1.6 billion in user fees from insurers.

The White House fiscal 2017 budget continues the administration's push for Medicaid expansion with an expected proposal to offer three years of full federal funding for newly eligible beneficiaries to states who have not yet expanded, addresses the substance abuse crisis, extends funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program through fiscal 2019, and includes an unexpected proposal to let states and the federal government jointly negotiate to lower the price of Medicaid drugs.