The Courts

The American Hospital Association says providers are considering asking the Supreme Court to take up their cases against the Part B reimbursement cuts for 340B drugs and Medicare pay cuts for outpatient clinic visits at certain off-campus hospital facilities after the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to rehear those cases.

As FDA continues to urge the courts to reinstate its in-person prescribing restrictions on mifepristone, one women’s health expert is using the opening to proceed with her plans to study the prescribing and dispensing of mifepristone through telehealth without the need for ultrasounds or physical exams.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Tuesday (Oct. 13) continued to suggest her 2017 paper that criticized Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision that uphold the Affordable Care Act due to Congress’ power of taxation has no bearing on the lawsuit the high court is set to hear Nov. 10, saying severability, an issue on which she has yet to reveal her position, is what the current case centers on.

Supreme Court justices heard arguments Tuesday (Oct. 6) in a case that could determine whether states may regulate pharmacy benefit managers to lower drug prices, and many justices sounded skeptical states have that authority.

The insurers suing the administration for cutting off the ACA’s cost-sharing reduction reimbursements want the full Federal Circuit Court to review last month’s ruling that found the government must reimburse insurers for the CSRs due in 2017 but can lower the amount due in 2018 because of the higher tax credits resulting from insurers’ silver-loading workaround.

Legal experts and health care advocates immediately panned President Donald Trump’s executive order that declares it is U.S. policy to protect people with preexisting conditions if the Supreme Court rules in favor of his administration and GOP attorneys general, calling it a legally meaningless political stunt and saying if the president wanted to protect Americans he would drop the lawsuit.

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and President Donald Trump’s pledge to nominate a replacement as early as this week, thrusts the constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act back into the spotlight less than two months before the election, giving Democrats a chance to highlight a key issue that had largely receded into the background as voters focused on COVID-19, the economy, racial justice and other concerns.

A federal judge Wednesday (Sept. 2) blocked HHS from removing the Affordable Care Act’s protections for transgender individuals under a revised rule implementing the law’s non-discrimination (Section 1557) provisions that went into effect Aug. 18, as a suit against the administration proceeds.

The generic drug lobby has refiled its suit challenging a California law that bans so-called pay-for-delay settlements after a U.S. district court Tuesday (Aug. 25) dismissed the case saying generic drug makers failed to prove they would be financially harmed by the law. AAM tells Inside Health Policy it has refiled the case with additional evidence.