POLITICO Pulse-GOP eyes China travel ban

With Erin Schumaker

PUSH TO RESTRICT CHINA TRAVEL — Five Republican senators want President Joe Biden to restrict travel to and from China amid a surge in pneumonia cases there despite U.S. officials saying there’s little cause for concern, POLITICO’s Shawn Zeller, Carmen Paun and Alice Miranda Ollstein report.

In a letter to Biden sent Friday, Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, J.D. Vance of Ohio, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Mike Braun of Indiana argue for a travel ban because of China’s “long history of lying about public health crises” and because of the World Health Organization’s “slavish deference” to Beijing.

Background: Reports of a surge in respiratory illnesses and pneumonia cases among children in China prompted the WHO last month to request information on the outbreak. WHO officials later held a teleconference with Chinese authorities in which the officials said the pneumonia was caused by a common bacteria, mycoplasma, as well as seasonal viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus and the flu. Public health experts have told POLITICO China is likely experiencing the same return of seasonal respiratory diseases that the U.S. and other nations did earlier.

But, the GOP senators said they didn’t trust the WHO or the Chinese.

The letter comes days after Dr. Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told House Republicans at a hearing that the agency has been in touch with its staff in China and also Chinese health officials who have said no new virus had been detected. Cohen added that European health officials corroborated China’s information.

An administration official told Pulse on Sunday that France and Denmark also report an increase in pneumonia and that other countries in the northern hemisphere report increased medical visits for common respiratory illnesses present this time of year. The U.S. is seeing normal seasonal trends, the official said, and nothing indicates a link between China’s outbreak and respiratory illnesses in the U.S.

Cohen also told reporters on Friday that reports of a similar surge in pneumonia and respiratory illnesses among children in Ohio and Massachusetts reflect what the agency typically sees this time of year. Most children recover with medication at home, she said.

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TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Kelly Hooper talks with POLITICO health care reporter Lauren Gardner about an FDA decision expected later this week on a landmark gene-editing treatment for people with sickle cell disease.

SCOTUS TO REVIEW OPIOID SETTLEMENT — The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments today on whether Purdue Pharma’s up-to-$6-billion bankruptcy settlement shielding the Sackler family, who owned the company, from future lawsuits should stand, Ben reports.

At the request of the Biden administration, the court in August temporarily blocked the settlement, which includes payments for those harmed by opioids and a restructuring of the company. The court will hear arguments about whether bankruptcy law allows for further immunity.

The Justice Department has argued that the settlement would allow the Sackler family to keep “billions of dollars that they siphoned from Purdue” when they would have otherwise faced claims “alleging damages in the trillions.”

The company has been blamed for spurring the opioid epidemic by aggressively pushing OxyContin.

Attorneys representing Purdue argue that “breadth and flexibility” are key to bankruptcy law and the settlement should be allowed to proceed. About 95 percent of creditors — including victims, states and other groups suing the company — approve the settlement.

CLIMATE ACTION PROMISED — An HHS delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai on Saturday outlined what it plans to do in the “near term” to support climate resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Why it matters: In 2021, HHS released a climate action plan and joined a White House pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030.

The plans announced Saturday, released in a supplement to the 2021 plan, include:

— Working with the Administration for Community Living to promote information on cooling centers

— Incorporating climate change information into the CDC’s public health emergency preparedness plan

— Advising states through CMS on how to address climate change as a social determinant of health in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program

— Studying climate change’s impact on food producers at the FDA

HHS also announced a collaboration among federal health systems to reduce carbon emissions in health care settings, according to a readout from the meeting.

GOP AND ACA REPEAL — Former President Donald Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act — but fellow Republicans say it’s not that simple.

Trump said on social media that if elected in 2024, he would scrap the law; however, the ACA isn’t the same act he opposed when he entered office in 2017, POLITICO’s Robert King and Alice report.

More than 40 million people have health insurance through the ACA, up 50 percent from 2017. And, since Republicans last tried to repeal the law, nine red and purple states have opted to expand Medicaid — many by popular vote — taking advantage of the enhanced federal funding and extending coverage to millions of lower-income people.

Republicans remain critical of the ACA but aren’t sure about a wholesale reform. “Policies have changed,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), whose state’s Medicaid expansion began Friday and is expected to add 600,000 people to the program’s rolls. Others, like Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — who was instrumental in the 2017 repeal effort — are skeptical that anything meaningful is forthcoming from Trump.

“Does he have a policy initiative that he is going to put forward?” Cassidy asked. “Or is it just a stream-of-consciousness musing?”

Even the handful of states that have resisted expansion has “a big stake in the debate,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF. And, nationally, “more people out there have something to lose” compared with 2017’s health insurance landscape.

A HOLIDAY CHALLENGE — U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is issuing a challenge today as part of his strategy to combat loneliness and social isolation, problems he’s identified as a profound threat to the nation’s health and well-being, Erin reports.

For the next two weeks, Murthy wants the public to join his 5-for-5 Connection Challenge: Take one action a day to forge connection — like expressing gratitude, offering support or asking for help — for five days in a row.

The goal is to help Americans strengthen their relationships during the holidays and give them a tangible connection tool they can use in the future.

“We wanted it to not just be an exercise of talking to people about what the problem was, but we wanted them to be able to experience some of the solution — to walk away with concrete actions they could take in their day-to-day life that can help build connection,” Murthy told Erin.

Murthy’s team conceived of the challenge for his “We Are Made to Connect” college tour, which ended last week. During the tour, students told Murthy about their experiences with loneliness and social isolation, and how hard it is to have a healthy relationship with technology.

Kristin L. McDonald is vice president of policy and advocacy at the College of American Pathologists. She previously was chief of legislative and political affairs at the American College of Surgeons.

The New York Times reports on the rise of unionization among doctors and pharmacists.

The Associated Press reports that schools, stretched thin on resources, are turning to online therapy to help students.

NBC News reports on the race to find out what’s causing respiratory illness in dogs.