The Courts

The Supreme Court on Oct. 6 will hear a case that could help states lower drug prices by limiting the activities and profits of pharmaceutical benefit managers, according to the court’s docket.

The Supreme Court Monday (July 13) released a calendar of cases it will hear in the first half of October, all of which were delayed from the Spring, but the high-profile case over the Affordable Care Act, California v. Texas, is still not scheduled.

Women’s advocates and health insurers Friday (July 10) cheered the Maryland District Court’s decision to block the Trump administration from implementing a rule that would have required insurers that cover abortion services not covered by the Hyde Amendment to send two bills to consumers.

The Supreme Court Wednesday (7-2) upheld the Trump administration’s rule that lets employers refuse to provide cost-free contraceptives to workers due to religious or moral objections, saying the Affordable Care Act grants HHS the discretion to set that policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union says the Supreme Court’s recent 5­-4 decision to strike down Louisiana abortion restrictions boosts abortion care providers’ calls for FDA to remove prescribing and dispensing restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone and shuts down the agency’s arguments that clinicians have no standing to assert patients’ rights to access the drug.

The Supreme Court’s 7-2 ruling in a case over illegal robocalls is seen by legal experts as a boon for the ACA supporters, as the court found that an unconstitutional provision can be severed from the remaining law, which is a key question the justices will consider in California v. Texas.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America on Tuesday (June 30) sued to block a Minnesota law, slated to take effect today, that aims to make insulin affordable.

Dialysis Patient Citizens sued CMS over its decision to let Medicare Advantage plans attest to having dialysis available in their networks rather than requiring specific time and distance standards for outpatient dialysis centers -- a decision the patient advocate group says discriminates against end-stage renal disease patients and was finalized without stakeholders knowing it was an imminent proposal.

A federal judge on Tuesday (June 23) ruled the Trump administration can proceed with its controversial mandate that hospitals publish negotiated rates, rejecting the American Hospital Association’s call for the court to scrap CMS’ hospital price transparency rule that is expected to go into effect in 2021.