On June 15, the Court decided five cases and dismissed a sixth. A case of great importance to health care lawyers, regarding the availability of judicial review of Medicare rates for pharmaceuticals, and another of great importance to labor and employment lawyers, holding that a significant portion of the California Private Attorneys General Act’s (PAGA’s) delegation of state enforcement power is preempted by federal law, lead the pack.
Let’s start with health care. American Hospital Association v. Becerra might be a surprise to some who thought that the Court would delve into the waters of Chevron deference, as did the D.C. Circuit below. Such was not the case, however. Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Kavanaugh reviewed the fact that the federal Medicare statute lays out a formula that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must employ annually to set reimbursement rates for certain outpatient prescription drugs provided by hospitals to Medicare patients. HHS is given two options. If HHS has conducted a survey of hospitals’ acquisition costs for each covered outpatient drug, the agency may set reimbursement rates based on the hospitals’ “average acquisition cost” for each drug and may “vary” the reimbursement rates “by hospital group.” But, absent a survey, HHS must set reimbursement rates based on “the average price” charged by manufacturers for the drug as “calculated and adjusted by the Secretary.” 42 U.S.C. §1395l(t)(14)(A)(iii)(II). This second...
Former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill took the stand in a civil case brought by his estranged wife, slamming her claims that he physically abused her as “false allegations.” But Hill adm...