The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and alongside it the high probability of a conservative successor to the open seat she left behind, is likely to shift the Court substantially to the right. Among the...more
On May 18, 2020, California Senate Bill 977 (“SB-977”) was passed out of the California Senate Health Committee and is now scheduled for its first hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 1, 2020. SB-977...more
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court in NFIB v. Sebelius struck down a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) which, for all intents and purposes, made the expansion of the Medicaid program...more
On April 16, 2020, the Trump Administration issued its “Opening Up America Again Guidelines” (the “OUAA Guidelines”) as a self-styled roadmap to the staged reopening of the American economy.
On Sunday, April 19, 2020, the...more
On March 17, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a memorandum to provide information to organizations that participate in the Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (“PACE”) program in...more
January 30th, 2020 marked a dramatic change in Medicaid funding, as the Trump Administration and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) showcased a plan, called the “Healthy Adult Opportunity,” that would permit...more
On December 18th, 2019, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals released a long-awaited decision on a significant challenge to the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), affirming a lower-court ruling that we discussed in a previous post....more
12/24/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Individual Mandate ,
Remand ,
Repeal ,
Severability Doctrine ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Texas v US
December 18, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reached its widely anticipated decision in Texas vs. Azar, ruling that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate is unconstitutional as a...more
As we noted in our November 1, 2019 Healthcare Law Blog post, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra rejected the proposed merger between Adventist Health System/West and St. Joseph Health System (the “Proposed Merger”)...more
On October 31, 2019, the California Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a denial letter rejecting a proposed merger between Adventist Health System/West and St. Joseph Health System. The parties had submitted notices to the...more
One of the most controversial taxes of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is in danger of repeal. The tax colloquially known as the “Cadillac Tax” was supposed to take effect in 2018, but Congress has delayed it twice. With the...more
On June 24, 2019, President Trump signed an executive order that purports to create a more transparent health care market for both patients and providers. The order attempts to decrease the prevalence of opaque pricing, while...more
On May 1, 2019, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed an initial brief (the “Brief”) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the “Fifth Circuit”) on behalf of the United States, in favor of upholding the lower...more
5/7/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Appeals ,
Appellate Briefs ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Individual Mandate ,
Oral Argument ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Trump Administration ,
US v Texas
In our December blog post, we discussed Texas v. United States, No. 19-10011 (5th Cir.), a Texas federal district court decision which struck down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). The case is being appealed to...more
On December 27, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an opinion that ruled against the Trump Administration in its plan to cut funding from the 340B Drug Pricing Program (“340B...more
1/15/2019
/ American Hospital Association ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Final Rules ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospitals ,
Medical Reimbursement ,
Medicare ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Section 340B ,
Trump Administration
On Friday, December 14, 2018, a federal district court judge in Texas issued a widely anticipated opinion that struck down the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) as unconstitutional. The judge ruled in...more
On December 3, 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), in collaboration with the Departments of the Treasury and Labor, the Federal Trade Commission, and several offices within the White House,...more
12/19/2018
/ Competition ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Hospitals ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Price Transparency ,
Telehealth ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury
Tuesday’s midterm elections showed that healthcare is now a top issue among voters, according to exit polls. In an NBC News poll, healthcare was the top issue for a plurality of voters, ahead of the economy, immigration, and...more
11/13/2018
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicaid ,
Medicaid Expansion ,
Medicare ,
Opioid ,
Preexisting Conditions ,
Prescription Drug Coverage ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Repeal ,
Trump Administration
On September 7, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill No. 595, A.B. 595, which amends the California Health and Safety Code to increase oversight by the California Department of Managed Health Care (“DMHC”)...more
On October 2, 2018, the CEOs of more than 700 hospitals and health systems representing healthcare providers in all fifty states sent a letter to Congress (the “Letter”) in a collective effort to protect the 340B Drug Pricing...more
On Monday, September 17, 2018, the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) cleared Cigna’s proposed $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts, the country’s largest pharmacy benefit manager....more
Why are prescription drug prices so high in the U.S.? While this question can hardly be considered a new topic in American healthcare, the recent clash of words between the Trump Administration and Democratic Senators has...more
9/5/2018
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Distributors ,
Drug Pricing ,
Drug Wholesaling ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Manufacturers ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacies ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rebates ,
Trump Administration
As discussed in our previous blog, “CMS Pushes for Hospital Price Transparency in Proposed Rule”, on April 24, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced a proposed rule (CMS-1694-P) aimed at...more
On Wednesday, August 1, 2018, the Trump Administration issued the Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance Final Rule (the “Final Rule”), expanding the coverage length of “short-term, limited-duration insurance” policies under...more
On February 26, 2018, twenty states (the “Plaintiffs”) jointly filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas requesting that the court strike down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act...more