What we still don’t know about Pelosi’s drug pricing plan 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to unveil her long-awaited plan to lower drug costs this week, though similar rumors have been swirling for months. A draft version that circulated a week ago would have empowered Medicare to negotiate the price of 250 drugs and offer that price to commercial buyers. It’d also have enacted a stronger version of President Trump’s international price index.

But my colleague Lev Facher and I still have questions. Among them: how will Pelosi’s plan specify which 250 drugs are subject to negotiations, and how could a health secretary possibly have the bandwidth to carry out 250 separate negotiations per year? Which lawmaker will introduce Pelosi’s legislation? And, given its aggressive tone, can it earn the support of the entire Democratic caucus — which includes dozens of lawmakers from pharma-heavy states like New Jersey, Delaware, and Massachusetts?

A Democratic aide told Lev that staff for the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its members will huddle this week before the bill’s official unveiling. Pelosi’s bill is unlikely to attract Republican support, however, even if it passes the House. A number of Hill aides from both parties and lobbyists now say Congress’s best bet for passing drug pricing reform entails tucking controversial provisions into “must pass” legislation that lawmakers need to tackle before the end of 2019.