Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medicaid Work Requirements Pulled From Supreme Court's Agenda
AP: Justices Call Off Arguments Over Medicaid Work Requirements
The Supreme Court said Thursday it has called off upcoming arguments over a Trump administration plan to remake Medicaid by requiring recipients to work, agreeing to a request from the Biden administration. The court had been scheduled to take up the issue on March 29. But the Biden administration already has decided preliminarily that work requirements do not fit with Medicaid’s goal of providing health care to lower-income people. (3/11)
Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court Cancels Arguments In Medicaid Work Requirements Case
The Supreme Court will no longer hear oral arguments later this month in a case challenging the legality of Medicaid work requirements in Arkansas and New Hampshire. The announcement on Thursday follows a request by the Biden administration's Department of Justice to cancel the hearings because HHS is reviewing the approval of work requirements in several states. CMS has indicated it may withdraw approvals in the nine states that received work requirement waivers from the Trump administration, including Arkansas and New Hampshire, which would make the legal challenges moot. (Hellmann, 3/11)
FierceHealthcare: Supreme Court Pulls Medicaid Work Requirements Case Off Docket
Legal experts say the move likely means the case won’t be heard this term and possibly may not be heard at all, especially with the Biden administration signaling a different approach to work requirements. “By taking the cases off the docket, the court is signaling that it won’t hear them this term and probably that it’ll never hear them at all,” University of Michigan Law Professor Nicholas Bagley told Fierce Healthcare. (King, 3/11)
SCOTUSblog: Court Nixes Upcoming Argument On Medicaid Work Requirements
The court, however, has not yet acted on [Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth] Prelogar’s request to vacate the two lower-court decisions at issue. Those decisions – both from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit – found that the Trump administration’s approval of work requirements in the Medicaid programs of Arkansas and New Hampshire violated federal law. Prelogar told the justices last month that the decisions have caused “uncertainty” about the authority of health officials to approve pilot projects in state Medicaid programs. (Romoser, 3/11)
In other Medicaid news —
Modern Healthcare: Ohio Sues Centene Over Alleged Pharmacy Benefits Overcharges
Ohio's attorney general sued Centene Corp. on Thursday, alleging the St. Louis-based insurer used a "web of subcontractors" to obscure drug costs and overcharge the state's Medicaid program for millions of dollars in pharmacy benefits. "Corporate greed has led Centene and its wholly owned subsidiaries to fleece taxpayers out of millions," Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement. "This conspiracy to obtain Medicaid payments through deceptive means stops now." (Tepper, 3/11)
Stat: Ohio AG Sues Health Plan Over Its PBM Contracts, Medicaid Costs
In the latest bid to pull back the curtain on pharmacy benefit managers, the Ohio attorney general filed a lawsuit claiming Centene (CNC), a health insurer, misrepresented pharmacy costs that caused the state Medicaid program to spend millions of dollars unnecessarily. The lawsuit alleges that a managed care plan called Buckeye Health Plan, which is owned by Centene, used a “web of subcontractors” to provide prescription drug benefits to the state Medicaid program. In the process, Buckeye collected $20 million that raised concern among state officials, a finding that came to light during an audit that was conducted in 2018. (Silverman, 3/11)
