Axios

President Biden's State of the Union address will include calls for insulin cost caps for privately insured patients and a renewed bid to close the Medicaid coverage gap in Republican-controlled states that haven't accepted the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.

The big picture: Neither proposal has much of a chance, but the speech gives Biden a chance to draw contrasts with Republicans and highlight policy successes in the Inflation Reduction Act, according to Larry Levitt, executive vice president of health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The end of the COVID public health emergency is near, but that's small consolation to the estimated 7 million to 10 million immunocompromised Americans who are soldiering on with a dwindling number of tools to protect them.

The big picture: The immunocompromised — estimated to make up about 3% of Americans — have largely been an afterthought throughout the pandemic, patient advocacy groups say.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) announced Monday that he is lifting the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for current and prospective city workers starting Friday.

The big picture: Other states and companies have moved away from COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and the White House said last month that the Biden administration plans to end the COVID-19 public health emergency by the spring.

Amazon's new RxPass prescription service further increases the downward pressure on the cost of generic drugs, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Driving the news: Last month, Amazon announced the new benefit to its Prime subscription service, allowing members access to unlimited prescriptions for generics for more than 80 conditions for $5 a month.

Only a quarter of hospitals studied were fully compliant with a federal price transparency rule, according to a new report by Patient Rights Advocate — but compliance is a spectrum.

Why it matters: The findings come as Congress has expressed bipartisan concern over compliance with the Trump administration rule and potential interest in legislating on the topic.

Doctors and scientists are urging the Food and Drug Administration to convene an expert panel to review safety concerns around an Alzheimer's drug that won fast-track approval in January.

The big picture: It's the latest concern over whether the FDA is cutting corners evaluating Alzheimer's drugs, prompted by its controversial 2021 approval of Biogen's Aduhelm, which came over the objections of an advisory panel and without evidence the drug actually slowed the decline of memory and brain function.