Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Drugmakers Sue To Stop Trump Importation Rules
Modern Healthcare: Drugmakers Sue To Stop Trump Administration Importation Plan
Drugmakers late Monday sued to stop the Trump administration from allowing states to import some prescription drugs. The lawsuit is the first of what will likely be many healthcare industry legal challenges to the Trump administration's last-minute attempts to achieve policy goals before the transition in January. The importation regulation at issue was not classified by the White House to be "economically significant," while other recent drug-pricing policies advanced by the administration were. (Cohrs, 11/24)
Stat: Which Pricey Drugs Will Trump's International Pricing Policy Target?
President Trump’s new drug pricing policy, to tie certain U.S. drug prices to those in other countries, will cost a small cadre of drug makers millions, if not billions. The plan, set to take effect in January, will set what Medicare pays for 50 drugs based on the lowest price that countries like Belgium and Japan pay for those same drugs. The U.S. will pilot the plan for seven years. (Florko, 11/24)
Also —
Bloomberg Law: Obamacare Birth Control Opt Out Rules Valid, Trump Agencies Say
Trump administration rules granting employers with religious or moral objections the right to opt out of providing employee health plans that pay for birth control are valid and should be upheld because the agencies fully considered the arguments for and against adopting them, those agencies told a federal court. The U.S. Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury departments narrowly designed the final rules to address employers’ sincere religious objections to Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, considered comments about the rules and their effect on women’s health care, and explained their reasons for changing the former administration’s policy, the agencies said. (Pazanowski, 11/24)
