The Affordable Care Act's cost-sharing reduction payments saga continues: The Trump administration ended the payments in 2017, Congress failed to fund them, and now 3 judges have said the government is still on the hook for the payments.
The big picture: "If their decisions stand, insurers could recover roughly $12 billion a year, every year, until Congress intervenes to stop the bleeding," Nicholas Bagley writes in the Incidental Economist.
Some of the best-selling drugs in the U.S. have stacked up extra federal protections that were initially intended to spark research into drugs that couldn’t make money on their own.
Why it matters: Some experts fear that these additional protections could help shield blockbuster drugs from cheaper competitors.
A measles outbreak has killed 136 people, with children hardest hit, in the Philippines, the AP reports.
Why it matters: Vaccine skepticism in the Philippines was worsened by a dengue vaccine campaign that was halted in 2017 after a study said it could "increase the risks of severe dengue infections," the AP notes.
