The Obama administration has filed a motion in House v. Burwell asking the district court for permission to take an immediate appeal of its decision allowing the case to proceed. Among other things, the administration argues that allowing the House to sue over an alleged violation of the Appropriations Clause is “a momentous step” that […]
The Center for American Progress has released a report that includes an arresting suggestion for controlling the prices of prescription drugs. Under the Bayh-Dole Act, in certain circumstances, the federal government may exercise its “march-in rights” to license patents that resulted from federally funded research but that are now owned by drug companies. These rights […]
A district court in Washington, DC ruled Wednesday that the House of Representatives has standing to bring a lawsuit alleging that the Obama administration is spending federal money to finance the ACA, absent a congressional appropriation. As I’ve explained , the stakes of the lawsuit are high—not as high as King v. Burwell, but nothing […]
Sarah Kliff has a nice explainer at Vox about how the House’s lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act could get some traction. As I’ve said before, the case should be dismissed for want of standing, and I suspect that it eventually will be—if not by the district court, then on appeal. But what if the […]
Walter Dellinger, a former Solicitor General of the United States, has a compelling op-ed in the Washington Post about House of Representatives v. Burwell, the latest effort to maim the ACA in the courts. Read it. He makes a quick, convincing case for why the House lacks standing to sue. ( I made a similar […]
A long-running dispute over the First Amendment flared up this past Friday, when a federal judge in New York told FDA that it couldn’t prevent a drug manufacturer from discussing research supporting an off-label use of its drug. The drug at issue is Vascepa, the active ingredient of which is an omega-3 fatty acid. It’s […]
Back in July 2014, a panel of three D.C. Circuit judges on the rejected Sissel v. HHS, the big Origination Clause challenge to the Affordable Care Act. In the plaintiffs’ view, the ACA didn’t comply with the Origination Clause, which requires all bills for raising revenue to “originate” in the House of Representatives. As such, […]
It was easy to overlook in the hubbub over the end-of-term cases, but the Supreme Court yesterday morning agreed to hear Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual, a case with significant implications for the states’ authority over the health-care sector. At issue in the case is whether Vermont can force health insurers—including employers that self-insure—to tell state […]
Last Monday, the Supreme Court decided Baker Botts v. ASARCO, a bankruptcy case about whether certain kinds of attorneys’ fees are available under the Bankruptcy Code. In deciding the case, did the Court tip its hand about the outcome in King v. Burwell, as some have speculated? Perhaps. On behalf of a six-justice majority, for […]
Since I’ve received a number of questions recently about the timing of King v. Burwell and its aftermath, I thought it was worth addressing them all in one place. When will we get a decision? The Court is likely to release its opinion in the last week of June. A decision could come sooner, but […]
Sara Rosenbaum and Tim Westmoreland have an interesting new piece out at the New England Journal of Medicine on the Patient CARE Act, a Republican proposal to transform Medicaid into a block grant program (among other things). Not only is the Patient CARE Act bad policy, they argue, but the move to block granting could […]
I’ve been toying with an idea that might allow the Obama administration, in the event that it loses in King v. Burwell, to keep subsidies flowing to residents in some of the 34 states that declined to create an exchange. What if HHS declared that any state that performs substantial, ongoing, and essential exchange functions […]
If the government loses in King v. Burwell, Congress will come under intense pressure to restore insurance subsidies in the 34 states that refused to set up their own exchanges. Anticipating the tricky post-King politics, Senate Republicans appear to have coalesced around a bill crafted by Senator Johnson that would extend subsidies through 2017 to […]
If the Supreme Court rules for the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell, the thirty-four states without their own exchanges will come under immense pressure to create them. But there’s a catch, one that so far has gone unmentioned in the debate over King. Could residents of the states with new state-based exchanges even qualify for […]
The always-interesting Will Baude has a provocative piece on King v. Burwell at the New York Times. As he sees it, the Obama administration has an ace up its sleeve when it comes to avoiding the fallout of an adverse decision. [L]uckily the Constitution supplies a contingency plan, even if the administration doesn’t know it […]