What the Chevron decision means for health policy

New Supreme Court ruling could complicate health agency work

The Supreme Court’s groundbreaking ruling curtailing the power of federal agencies will likely have a significant impact on how the nation’s health department shapes federal policy, according to multiple legal experts and former health agency officials.

“This will probably be one of the most important decisions — at least in the regulatory area — in our lifetime,” he said. James Huang, partner in a law firm Hogan LovellsS health care practice.

The 6-3 opinion, divided along ideological lines, could slow down the lawmaking process and lead to a flood of lawsuits challenging decisions made by Food and Drug Administration AND Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Details: The Supreme Court on Friday overturned a 40-year-old legal precedent known as Chevron doctrine that required judges to follow an agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous law, as long as that interpretation was reasonable. But Chevron have long been a target of conservatives who say federal bureaucrats have too much power — and the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court shared their view.

Huang compared the ruling’s impact to a “slow burn” as litigants test the waters afterChevron eras and courts adapt to the new reality.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who wrote the majority opinion, called Chevron “unworkable.” The framework, he wrote, allowed agencies “to change course even when Congress did not give them the authority to do so.”

Chevronsupporters argue that the doctrine gave government experts flexibility to fill in the details of general statutes and respond to technological advances.

Judge Elena Kaganin her dissent, she argued that government regulators are best equipped to handle highly technical topics. To prove her point, she asked two complicated health care questions: What qualifies as an FDA-regulated protein? And how should the Medicare program measure “geographic area” when calculating hospital reimbursements based on wage levels in specific regions?

So how will the Supreme Court ruling impact? Some of this will depend on lower court rulings over the next few years.

Opponents of some policies may take advantage of the post-Chevron landscape to stoke doubts about policies they don’t like. That, in turn, could make agencies like the FDA and CMS more cautious. Experts and former health officials say decision-making could be slower and agencies likely will have to devote more resources to prepare for litigation.

How Stacy Amin — Former FDA General Counsel who now works for a law firm Morrison Foerster “This definitely puts the FDA in a weaker position,” he says.

The FDA may rely more on issuing guidance than on setting policy through rulemaking, according to Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner. “Nonbinding guidelines may be less susceptible to judicial review because they are nonbinding,” he told Health Brief.

• The judges’ decision could have implications across a wide range of areas, including some food safety laws and recent agency actions to regulate some tests The FDA says the data is unreliable. However, courts should still defer to the FDA in decisions about whether to approve a particular product, Gottlieb wrote in X.

When it comes to Medicare and Medicaid, these are complex areas where officials are creating new ways to solve pressing policy problems based on new interpretations of the law. The Supreme Court’s ruling could make those interpretations—from defining certain terms for Medicare drug negotiations to setting policy in the Medicaid drug program—more susceptible to lawsuits, legal experts say.

And one more thing: Today is another day of opinions (although it is unusual for the court to continue in July). The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on a case to determine when plaintiffs can challenge government regulations in court — another decision that could have implications for federal agencies.

David Ovalle assisted in the preparation of this report.

Dengue Fever Spreads Across the World – A Warning Sign for the US

A record 10 million people have been infected with dengue this year — an unprecedented increase that scientists say is partly due to climate change, The Post reports. Lena H. Sun AND Sarah Kaplan report.

Soaring global temperatures have accelerated the life cycles and expanded the range of dengue-carrying mosquitoes, leading to an influx of patients overwhelming hospitals from Brazil to Bangladesh, echoing the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic. Puerto Rico declared a public health emergency this spring as the number of dengue cases reported in the first five months of 2024 exceeded the total for all of last year.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of an increased risk of dengue fever in the United States. The agency urged doctors to be alert for the disease when treating patients with fever who have traveled to areas where dengue transmission is occurring. Public health officials are bracing for the virus to appear in temperate regions, including the southernmost parts of the United States.

We received more information from Lena, who sent us the following message:

FDA says latest study confirms pasteurization kills bird flu

U.S. officials say a new study that recreated commercial pasteurization in a government lab confirms that heat treatment kills the bird flu virus in cow’s milk.

The study published Friday has not yet been peer-reviewed. Scientists from FDA and United States Department of Agriculture used specially designed equipment to simulate commercial milk processing in a lab in Athens, Georgia. They found that the most common pasteurization time and temperature—161 degrees for 15 seconds—was effective in inactivating the H5N1 virus in raw milk, and in some cases the virus was killed even before that temperature was reached.

Other studies that were supposed to simulate pasteurization have shown the presence of infectious virus in laboratory tests. Initial samples of milk from supermarket shelves taken by the FDA did not show the presence of live bird flu virus.

Iowa’s highest court rules in favor of abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy can go into effect, the latest court ruling to restrict access to abortion, The Post reported. Annie Gowen reports.

The measure aims to restrict abortions once fetal heart activity is detected around the sixth week of pregnancy. Planned Parenthood and others obtained a temporary injunction from a lower court that temporarily legalized abortion in that state up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.

What happened: The GOP-controlled Legislature passed the abortion ban last year after the state Supreme Court was undecided about whether to reinstate a similar law from 2018. In a 4-3 ruling Friday, the court lifted a temporary injunction issued by a district court last year while allowing ongoing litigation at that level to proceed.

What’s next: Under Iowa court rules, it takes at least 21 days for a case to be sent back to a district court. Until then, abortion will remain legal in the state.

In Nevada, a ballot measure to add abortion rights to the state constitution has met all the requirements to go before voters this November. Associated Press Press Agency reports. Voters must approve the question in both 2024 and 2026 for it to become a constitutional amendment.

Republican Leaders Call for Investigations into Alleged Obamacare Fraud

House Republican leaders are asking government watchdogs to investigate enrollment in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces, The Post reports. Dan Diamond reports.

Prominent Republicans are citing reports that insurance brokers are deceiving consumers into signing up for some ACA health plans, and that millions of Americans may be wrongly benefiting from federal subsidies.

Chairs Chamber of Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means AND Judicial committees on Friday he asked for Government Accountability Office and the federal health department’s inspector general has launched an investigation into potential college enrollment fraud.

📅 The House and Senate are out this week. Happy Fourth of July break!

Corporate lobbyists eye new lawsuits after Supreme Court curbs federal power (Tony Romm | The Washington Post)

Abortion rights groups say Florida is trying to put up barriers to the amendment (Arek Sarkissian | Politico)

Cancer victims lose bid to block proposed J&J talc bankruptcy (Brendan Pierson | Reuters)

How Does Bird Flu Spread in Cows? Experiment Brings ‘Good News.’ (By Carl Zimmer | The New York Times)

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