Today, the Supreme Court decided American Health Association v. Becerra, unanimously rejecting reimbursement rates for certain prescription drugs set by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2018 and 2019 as contrary to statute. AHA was a closely watched case because some saw as it as an opportunity for the Court to revisit, and potentially narrow or even overturn, the Chevron doctrine, under which courts are to defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutory provisions. Yet the Court ultimately resolved the case without citing Chevron at all -- and this should send a message to lower courts about how Chevron should be applied.
In AHA the Court had accepted certiorari on two questions:
- Whether Chevron deference permits HHS to set reimbursement rates based on acquisition cost and vary such rates by hospital group if it has not collected adequate hospital acquisition cost survey data.
- Whether petitioners' suit challenging HHS's adjustments is precluded by 42 U. S. C. §1395l(t).
