What we're hearing: Bill Cassidy's priorities
- Peter Sullivan, author of Axios Pro: Health Care Policy
Cassidy at the Capitol in November 2022. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Sen. Bill Cassidy sat down with Peter, Maya, Victoria and Caitlin Owens as he prepared to take his new position as top Republican on the Senate HELP Committee.
- Here are some pieces of the conversation that jumped out to us.
On working with Bernie Sanders on the nursing shortage: "[I] absolutely want to work with him. But I don't want to just throw money at a problem or throw policy at a problem, I want to know what the issue is."
On his 2019 STAT article exploring ways to pay for gene therapies, like the "Netflix" subscription model: "I really couldn't get traction on that. And so it's been kind of a frustration. So one thing I'm looking forward to [in] this position is now I get some traction, just because I'm now the ranking member."
On whether he supports President Biden's push to cap insulin at $35 in the private market: "Of course the headline sounds good, but [there are] details which you have to be concerned about." (He did not directly say no, but said the real issue is the rebate system.)
On his health care cost priorities: "Surprise medical billing oversight, number one. Number two, price transparency."
- "The Trump administration put out rules, which the hospitals have really kind of neglected in terms of publishing prices," he added.