- The fight over the “340B” hospital drug discount program largely pits pharmaceutical makers, who are required by law to give discounts to health facilities that serve low-income patients, against the hospitals and clinics that get the discounts. The court ruled that the hospitals’ challenge to the proposed cuts was premature, and hospitals have vowed to refile their lawsuit. But the fight has spawned a huge advertising effort aimed at policymakers in Washington, including bus stop posters from the program’s supporters featuring a unicorn.
- Anthem has been heavily criticized for its policy of not paying emergency room bills if the patients should have known that they didn’t need emergency care. But it appears that the insurer has quietly pulled back from implementing the policy much of the time. That still didn’t stop emergency room doctors from suing Anthem this week in Georgia, however.
- Could the Trump administration’s recent action to pull down some health care material from agency websites suggest that officials plan to make changes in some sexual discrimination regulations?
- FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stunned a Washington audience this week when he said officials are looking into whether beverages manufactured from plants, such as almonds and soy, can be labeled milk under FDA guidelines that say milk must come from animals that lactate. But perhaps that cow is already out of the barn.
