On Friday, Mar. 27, TRP Co-founder Andy Rosenberg participated in an Alliance for Health Policy webinar on the legislative and regulatory efforts to address the COVID-19 outbreak. Rosenberg provided the audience with a high-level overview of the legislative activity in Congress to stem the impact of the outbreak. He also forecasted future actions that lawmakers could take to address existing and emerging COVID-19 issues.”If there’s one thing we’ve seen so far, it’s that this trajectory has just been faster and more dire than we’ve expected,” said Rosenberg. “So even though Congress expects to be out of town until April 20, we imagine that when they return at the end of April, there will probably be some urgent needs in industries and sectors that we can’t even predict right now that they’ll have to get to work on.”

In today’s Washington Post “Finance 202” newsletter — a leading beat for financial services news in Washington, D.C. — TRP’s Jason Rosenstock offered commentary on what Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s departure from the 2020 presidential race means for financial regulations moving forward. While the piece notes that industry leaders don’t believe former Vice President Joe Biden would bring the type of regulatory change that Sen. Warren promised in her campaign, Rosenstock astutely pointed out that the leftward shift of the Democratic party could indicate that the some of the Massachusetts Senator’s ideas for financial regulation could come to fruition. “Warren may ultimately win the ideas primary,” said Rosenstock.  “And a lot of the stuff she’s proposed may find its way into platform.”

In an article for The Hill, TRP Partner Jason Rosenstock provided commentary on former New York City Mayor and 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s proposed financial reform plan. While the article notes that Bloomberg’s proposal puts him within the mainstream Democratic party, Rosenstock points out that Wall Street may find elements of the plan troubling as he positions himself to make inroads with the party’s left flank. “It’s indicative of how far the Democratic primary voters have shifted to the left when this proposal is sort of seen as a center-left proposal,” said Rosenstock.

In an article for Inside Health Policy, TRP’s Senior Vice President Shea McCarthy shared his insight on the impact of Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-IA) support for the Grassley-Wyden drug pricing legislation. While Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has been touting the increased support for his signature drug pricing bill among Republican Senators, McCarthy pointed out that Sen. Ernst’s contemporaneous endorsement of a competing drug pricing bill may serve to highlight the GOP’s intraparty schisms on drug pricing policies. “[Ernst’s] dual endorsement of the Finance package and the alternative from Sen. Crapo effectively reinforces Leader McConnell’s perspective that there are major divisions in the Senate GOP conference over how to address drug pricing,” said McCarthy.

In an article for Skilled Nursing News, TRP Senior Vice President Andrea Maresca was quoted following a recent decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to extend the comment period for its proposed rule on supplemental payment programs under Medicaid. The article cites Maresca’s presentation at the American Health Care Association’s (AHCA) 2019 annual convention and expo, where she acutely noted that oversight of these programs has been a long-standing concern for the agency as they have evolved over time. “All of this is driving work in the agency to come up with a regulation that will put more parameters about how supplemental payment programs would work in the future,” stated Maresca at the October conference. “The agency is also concerned about the lack of a clear link between how payments are made to providers, and whether these are made based on services delivered or somehow tied to quality and outcomes.”

In the Dec. 19 edition of its "Influence" newsletter, POLITICO highlighted TRP's take on why 2020 could be a productive year in Congress despite impeachment and the upcoming presidential election. “At the end of the day, however, most lawmakers recognize that they were sent to Washington to pass legislation and appetites for bipartisan, problem-solving wins are greater than they appear," TRP's memo states. "The top-level political narrative is only the tip of the iceberg and ignores the very real work to pass laws that goes on in even the most contentious political environment.”

In an article for Roll Call, TRP’s Andy Rosenberg offered his perspective on the key policy deals that were clinched in the recent end-of-year spending deal. While the article points to notable achievements in the health care and medical device industries, Rosenberg astutely pointed out that these “last-minute wins” were culminated as a result of tireless advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill. “It’s important to recognize that these big deals don’t just materialize out of ether,” said Rosenberg. “Their underlying merit has been lobbied for months or longer to get them in a position to pass.”

TRP’s Jason Rosenstock was recently quoted in an article for Roll Call that outlines policy issues the fintech industry may have to contend with in 2020. In particular, Rosenstock pointed to existing and emerging data privacy measures, specifically centered around California’s data privacy law and the European Union’s enactment of the 2018 General Data Protection Regulation, that could spur legislative action on privacy next year. “You’re starting to really, truly see, at least in the states, a real patchwork emerging,” said Rosenstock. “I think it will only serve to continue to draw attention to the issue [in 2020].”