The Courts

Several Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism Tuesday (Jan. 15) about CMS’ authority to issue legal interpretations that affect Medicare reimbursements without going through notice-and-comment rulemaking.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, as expected, granted the Department of Justice’s request to stay proceedings in the high-profile case over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act due to the ongoing government shutdown.

The Supreme Court on Monday (Jan. 7) heard oral arguments on a drug labeling case over whether drug maker Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. should be held liable for injury to consumers even after FDA rejected the company’s proposal to include on its drug label warnings about potential fractures that could be caused by the osteoporosis drug Fosamax.

The new power split in Washington means much of 2019 will be spent on congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s health care actions, starting with its decision to not fully defend the health law from a constitutional challenge, as well as hearings on potential next steps in transforming the health system but likely little action.

The group of Democratic attorneys general intervening to fully defend the Affordable Care Act from the constitutional challenge have formally appealed Texas U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s controversial decision that, if upheld, would strike the entire law.

A federal judge is asking the state of Maryland and the federal government to comment on whether a Texas district court’s move to officially pause the controversial ruling on the Affordable Care Act has an effect on the state’s related case.

Texas federal district Judge Reed O’ Connor stressed in a Dec. 30 ruling that the 17 Democratic attorneys general who are intervening in the high-profile case over the Affordable Care Act are unlikely to win an appeal either on standing or on the merits, but agreed to formally issue a stay of his earlier ruling that shot down the ACA in order to mitigate confusion.

The 17 Democratic attorneys general intervening in the high-profile case over the Affordable Care Act stress in a brief that all parties agree the recent ruling has no immediate impact and the case should quickly move to the appeal stage, and California AG Xavier Becerra, who is spearheading the fight to defend the law, asked Judge Reed O’Connor to rule on their motion by Jan. 1.

The Department of Justice agrees with a group of Democratic attorneys general that U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor should clarify that his controversial ACA ruling is not final -- and thus has no immediate impact -- or should be stayed pending appeal, while the 20 GOP-led states that filed the case say a clarification is not needed and they won’t seek to enforce the order while it is on appeal.