The Regulator

A Senate committee capped insulin at 35 dollars a month for privately insured patients yesterday, and today it decides whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pick to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survives committee. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 17 to 5 on July 22, 2026 to advance the INSULIN Act of 2026, Senate bill S. 4189, which would cap monthly insulin costs at 35 dollars for privately insured patients and pilot a similar benefit for the uninsured, one of 13 bills the committee considered in a Wednesday executive session that also included the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act. The same committee returns today, July 23, 2026, to vote on three nominations: Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sean Kaufman to be Department of Health and Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response, and Keith Sonderling to be secretary of labor; Schwartz and Kaufman both faced questions at their July 15 hearing about their independence from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccine policy. Confidence: High on the roll call vote and today’s scheduled nominee votes, since the committee’s own agenda page confirms both; Low on whether any nominee actually clears committee today, since the vote had not yet occurred as this issue went to press. Sources: Executive Session Agenda, July 22, 2026, Senate HELP Committee, Senate HELP Committee to Vote on Health, Labor Nominations, Senate HELP Committee.

Michigan’s cyclosporiasis outbreak grew by 600 cases in a single day this week, and state health officials say it could be the largest such outbreak in US history. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported 7,171 cyclosporiasis cases statewide as of Wednesday, July 22, 2026, a 9 percent jump from 6,571 cases the day before, in an outbreak the department has linked to Taylor Farms de Mexico iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations, the same outbreak this issue covered July 18 and July 21. The outbreak has spread to 55 of Michigan’s 83 counties and is roughly 31 times the state’s typical annual caseload of about 50 cases; hospitalizations more than doubled to 102 in the week before the state’s July 22 count, up from 44 the prior week. Confidence: Medium-High on the case count and hospitalization figures, since they rest on the Michigan health department’s own numbers as reported by multiple Michigan outlets; Low on the “largest in US history” characterization, since that is the state’s own preliminary assessment rather than a confirmed historical comparison. Sources: Michigan’s cyclosporiasis cases grow 9%, exceed 7,000, Detroit News, Michigan’s cyclosporiasis outbreak count tops 7,100, CBS Detroit.

A House committee advanced a bill yesterday forcing pharmacy benefit managers to open their books on drug pricing in the health plan covering every federal worker. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform marked up and advanced H.R. 6610, the Pharmacists Fight Back Act, on July 22, 2026, a bill from Chairman James Comer and Representative Jake Auchincloss that would impose new transparency and pricing requirements on pharmacy benefit managers operating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, restricting markups the committee says squeeze independent pharmacies. The bill was one of several the committee approved in Wednesday’s markup, alongside legislation on congressional review of Washington, D.C. taxation; Comer has separately pressed pharmacy benefit managers’ role in rising drug prices in recent committee statements. Confidence: High on the bill’s passage and provisions, since the committee’s own markup summary confirms them; Low on Senate or floor prospects, since neither has been scheduled. Source: Markup Wrap Up: Oversight Committee Advances Legislation to Lower Prescription Drug Prices, Stop D.C. Tax Hikes, and Improve Government Operations, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

An eye drug maker will pay 4.7 million dollars after the government said it promised surgery centers a refund if insurance paid too little. EyePoint Pharmaceuticals disclosed in a securities filing dated July 17, 2026 that it agreed to pay 4,678,981.86 dollars, including 4,657,463.18 dollars to the federal government and 21,518.68 dollars to participating states, to resolve False Claims Act and Civil Monetary Penalties Law allegations that from 2019 to 2023 it ran an “Assurance Program” reimbursing ambulatory surgery centers if insurers denied or underpaid claims for its post-cataract-surgery drug DEXYCU, on top of supplying excessive free samples. The settlement, entered with the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General and the Defense Health Agency, includes a five-year corporate integrity agreement signed July 13, 2026 and follows a qui tam whistleblower suit. Confidence: dropped, since this account rests on the company’s own Securities and Exchange Commission filing rather than an independently reviewed Department of Justice statement, whose press release returned an automated access block for this issue. Source: EyePoint, Inc. Form 8-K, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Orthopedic surgeons told the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services this week to scrap next year’s Medicare pay cut before it pushes more of them out of private practice. The American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons said July 22, 2026 that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should withdraw the payment provisions in its Calendar Year 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, warning the cuts will accelerate consolidation and shrink patient access to musculoskeletal care. The agency proposed the rule July 14, 2026, cutting the physician conversion factor for participants in qualifying alternative payment models by 1.19 percent, to 33.1693 dollars, and for non-qualifying participants by 1.68 percent, to 32.8409 dollars, because a one-year statutory 2.50 percent increase in effect for 2026 does not carry into 2027; comments are due September 14, 2026. Confidence: High on the rule’s provisions and the association’s position, since the agency’s own fact sheet and the association’s statement confirm them; Low on whether the agency revises the cuts before finalizing, since the comment period has just begun. Sources: Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, AAOS Sounds Alarm on CMS Medicare Proposal That Drives Consolidation and Harms Patient Access to Care, American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons.