Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Supreme Court Orders Judges To Reexamine Gender-Affirming Care
CNN: SCOTUS Orders Judges To Revisit Decisions On Transgender Health Plans, Birth Certificates In Wake Of Blockbuster Ruling
The Supreme Court on Monday tossed aside a handful of lower court rulings that sided with transgender Americans, requiring that judges in those cases revisit their decisions in the wake of a blockbuster ruling this month that upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth. The justices upended rulings that blocked state policies excluding coverage for gender-affirming care in state-sponsored health insurance plans. The high court also tossed out an appeals court ruling that went against Oklahoma in a challenge to the state’s effort to ban transgender residents from changing the sex designation on their birth certificates. In a loss for the transgender Americans who sued, those decisions will now be reviewed again. (Fritze and Cole, 6/30)
Bloomberg: US Supreme Court Seeks Government’s View On Roundup Verdict
The US Supreme Court signaled interest in Bayer AG’s bid to stop thousands of lawsuits blaming its top-selling Roundup weedkiller for causing cancer, seeking the Trump administration’s view on whether to hear the company’s appeal of a $1.25 million verdict. Bayer contends a 2023 Missouri state-court jury that sided with a man who blamed Roundup for his cancer shouldn’t have weighed a claim that the company failed to properly warn consumers about the product’s health risks. Bayer says such claims are preempted by federal law. (Feeley, 6/30)
Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court Declines To Hear PBM Case Over Oklahoma Law
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case centering on how much states can regulate pharmacy benefit managers. The high court rejected without comment an appeal by Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready (R). In 2019, Oklahoma passed a law that would have regulated how PBMs construct pharmacy networks and steer patients to preferred retail locations. PBM trade group the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association sued to block the law, alleging Mulready overstepped his regulatory authority. (Tepper, 6/30)
NBC News: Supreme Court Turns Away Online Censorship Claim By RFK Jr.'s Anti-Vaccine Group Against Meta
The Supreme Court on Monday turned away without comment a claim brought by the group formerly run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. alleging that its anti-vaccine speech was censored by the social media company Meta Platforms. Kennedy, now the Health and Human Services secretary in the Trump administration, founded and was chairman of the group, Children's Health Defense, that sued Meta, the operator of sites such as Facebook and Instagram. (Hurley, 6/30)
Modern Healthcare: How The SCOTUS ACA Preventive Care Ruling May Impact Policy
Eyes are on federal regulators in the wake of a Supreme Court case that could alter how politics affect preventive and other services’ coverage requirements. Industry experts are closely watching to see how HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might involve himself in a preventive coverage recommendation process that has been the purview of an independent panel of healthcare experts. (Early, 6/30)
