Hemophilia groups filed a civil rights complaint Tuesday against health insurer Wellmark for preventing patients with the disorder from accessing coverage under the Affordable Care Act to avoid paying the expensive medical bills, per Washington Examiner.
The complaint, filed by the National Hemophilia Foundation, the Hemophilia Federation of America and Hemophilia of Iowa, claims that Wellmark discriminated against patients with hemophilia — which keeps blood from clotting, and can require expensive infusions of protein — first by limiting coverage to only certain counties in Iowa, and later by stating it was pulling out of the Iowa marketplace altogether in 2018.
Why it matters: The groups argue that Wellmark's actions could open the door for other insurance agencies to dodge paying for pre-existing illnesses.
The city of Cincinnati is suing the three largest prescription drug distributors — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — alleging the companies violated federal law by failing to report suspicious orders of opioids like hydrocodone and oxycodone and are "responsible for the volume of prescription opioids plaguing our community."
Why it matters: Counties and cities in Ohio have aggressively gone after opioid manufacturers and drug distributors, although those companies have argued they are not behind the country's opioid epidemic. Cincinnati marks at least the ninth such lawsuit from an Ohio county or city since July, according to an Axios review of legal filings.
The big picture: The Financial Times reports a "tidal wave" of opioid-related lawsuits from other states, cities and counties across the country.
