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Health Care

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The Big Story

Oz seeks to soothe MAHA

Dr. Mehmet Oz wants supporters of the Make America Healthy Again movement to understand why the Trump administration is seeking deals with drug companies they despise.

Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press

Speaking during a weekly call with MAHA supporters on Wednesday, Oz said he recognized that some were not happy when the administration last week announced a deal with Pfizer about lowering drug prices for Medicaid patients.

“Some of the companies we’re working with are not companies that folks in the MAHA movement have thought highly of,” said Oz, who is the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“I would challenge all of us to revisit what has gone down in the last five years. Much of what happened during COVID was frustrating, angering. I certainly faced it. Many of you did as well,” Oz said, but argued the administration is empowering the American people by stopping drug companies from charging exorbitantly high prices.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla stood next to Oz and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the Oval Office last week as President Trump announced a deal on his “most favored nation” policy. While many of the details were secret, Pfizer agreed to sell its medications to Medicaid at prices similar to those offered in other countries.

The White House said the deal would save “many millions” of dollars for Medicaid. Kennedy noted the “long history of antipathy and antagonism” between himself and Bourla, but praised him for the agreement.

“We want to make sure that we don’t push companies to stop innovating. We want everyone to continue to build the best solutions possible. So I encourage you to at least have optimism around that as we go through this process,” Oz said Wednesday.

He also championed Trump’s push to create a TrumpRx website that will allow consumers to purchase drugs directly from manufacturers as an example of MAHA’s “radical transparency.”

“We are building the house of trust with all these bricks, with radical transparency at every level.” Oz said, asking supporters to “respect us and trust us because we’re telling you our best information.”

Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

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Essential Reads

How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:

Jeffries, Lawler get into confrontation over ObamaCare: ‘You’re embarrassing yourself’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) traded pointed barbs in the halls of the Capitol on Wednesday, after the moderate Republican confronted the Democratic leader about his opposition to a short-term extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. Lawler approached Jeffries when he emerged from the House Democratic leadership press conference and repeatedly pressed the Democrat to sign …

Full Story

Former surgeons general: RFK Jr. actions ‘endangering the health of the nation’

Six former surgeons general criticized Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a Tuesday op-ed in The Washington Post. “The actions of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are endangering the health of the nation,” the group said. “Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions …

Full Story

Federal judge blocks Trump changes to teen pregnancy prevention program

The Trump administration can’t force organizations that receive federal teen pregnancy prevention grants to comply with an executive order against “indoctrinating” children about “radical gender ideology,” a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., an appointee of former President Obama, ruled that a July directive from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was arbitrary …

Full Story

In Other News

Branch out with a different read:

Greene defection highlights health care cracks in GOP shutdown unity

Shutdown jockeying over health care is intensifying, with Republicans showing some cracks in their unity and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) insisting Democrats will only agree to a permanent extension of enhanced ObamaCare subsidies. President Trump and Republicans have sought to raise the pressure on Democrats to reopen the government by threatening mass firings of federal workers and withholding their …

Full Story

Around the Nation

Local and state headlines on health care:

NC State Health Plan’s new deal with CVS Caremark lets it negotiate for GLP-1s for state employees (Blue Ridge Public Radio)
Falls made up 21 percent of EMS calls in Wisconsin last year, state health agency reports (Wisconsin Public Radio)
State reveals how many kids lost health coverage after being unable to do so in Senate committee (Florida Phoenix)

What We’re Reading

Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:

This geriatrics training program escaped the ax. For now. (KFF Health News)
Pharma companies scramble to make deals with Trump after Pfizer scored White House praise (Stat)
Trump wants to overhaul drug sales. A company tied to his son stands to benefit (Wall Street Journal)