As the country continues to grapple with the consequences of the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion for nearly half a century, it is critical for President Biden to reassure all Americans who can get pregnant that his administration will continue to work to restore abortion rights. President Biden needs to respond to Republicans doubling down on restricting and outlawing access to abortion as they ramp up their campaigns for the 2024 election by further expanding access to medication abortion drugs, including Mifepristone. The Biden administration should eliminate the pharmacy and prescriber certification requirements to dispense mifepristone, and assert the authority of the FDA to preempt state law for FDA-approved medications to prohibit states from banning access to medication abortion.
Now that the Biden administration has announced that the Public Health Emergency (PHE) declaration will end on May 11, President Biden needs to reassure Americans that the transition will not affect their access to coverage and affordable care. The PHE declaration that was issued by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in March 2020 provides flexibilities for the federal government to modify or waive certain requirements, including for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Those who are vulnerable — children and those with chronic illnesses and disabilities — will need more assistance in navigating the administrative process to regain coverage once the PHE declaration ends. President Biden should call for relaxing eligibility requirements that were exclusionary before the PHE declaration was issued by reducing administrative burdens using administrative data and targeting assistance to those groups to keep eligible individuals and families enrolled.
Additionally, various provisions that were authorized by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act into the COVID-19 PHE declaration are set to expire next year. These provisions permitted pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to administer COVID-19, flu, and all recommended pediatric vaccines without a prescriber order, even in certain states that have laws that limit pharmacies from administering some vaccines to certain populations. If these provisions expire, 25 states where the authority for pharmacist-administered vaccines has not been made permanent will face the consequences of the expiration most acutely as states will return to restricting pharmacists to administer certain vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine. President Biden should call on states to adopt and codify the PREP Act declaration expanding pharmacist ability to vaccinate in state law, which governs pharmacist practice, to ensure Americans continue to have greater access to these life-saving vaccines beyond the end of the PHE.
This post is part of a series from PPI’s policy experts ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address. Read more here.