Earlier this month, oral arguments began in a class action lawsuit brought by 15 Kentucky Medicaid beneficiaries that challenges the legality of the state’s attempt to make employment or community service a requirement for Medicaid eligibility. In a new To the Point post, the Commonwealth Fund’s Sara Collins argues that this and another legal challenge brought by Texas and 19 other Republican-led states have potentially far-reaching implications for the Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid program — and for millions of Americans who depend on them for their health insurance.

Also read a new Commonwealth Fund report in which Sara Rosenbaum, the Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy at George Washington University, explores the central role that the courts have played in shaping Medicaid policy — including eligibility, benefits and coverage, access to care, and provider participation and payment.

At age 48, Robin Ridley of Goodlettsville, Tenn., was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that affects the plasma cells found in bone marrow. Starting next year, Robin’s COBRA coverage and the drug manufacturer support she now receives for her medication, Revlimid, will end.

In a Commonwealth Fund brief, Henry Waxman, Bill Corr, Kristi Martin, and Sophia Duong explore why generic alternatives to Revlimid are not available and suggest policies that might help patients who struggle to pay for life-saving drugs. The bipartisan Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act of 2017, which the Senate Judiciary Committee passed this month, is one potential policy approach to curbing anticompetitive behavior by drug manufacturers.

Pharmaceutical companies argue that high prices are necessary to support innovation. Yet Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D., says this justification raises other questions, such as whether it’s appropriate to let the market decide how much, and how, our society spends money on research and development. Blumenthal explains on the Wall Street Journal "Experts" blog (subscription required).

Several states are moving forward with plans to implement state-level individual health insurance mandates in light of Congress’s recent elimination of the ACA’s federal mandate penalty, effective in 2019. In a To the Point post, Georgetown University’s Dania Palanker, Rachel Schwab, and Justin Giovannelli lay out the coverage requirements states are adopting.

In a Commonwealth Fund–supported study in Health Affairs, Benjamin Sommers, M.D., and colleagues at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health surveyed low-income adults in three Midwestern states with different Medicaid policies: Indiana, which used a waiver to expand Medicaid and introduced health savings accounts; Ohio, which expanded eligibility for traditional Medicaid; and Kansas, which has not expanded Medicaid but is considering doing so with work requirements. The researchers find that health savings accounts and work requirements may not produce the results that state policymakers are aiming for.

The recent court ruling allowing the merger of AT&T and Time Warner will likely encourage similar unions throughout the U.S. economy, including in health care. But policymakers and private actors should not interpret the court's decision as an unconditional green light for so-called vertical integration in health care, says Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D., in a To the Point post.

In the journal Academic Medicine, the Commonwealth Fund's David Blumenthal, M.D., Douglas McCarthy, and Tanya Shah issue a call to action for academic medical centers to "accelerate the path to improving care for the country's sickest and most expensive patients." They point to six key features of care programs that have achieved proven results, including targeting interventions to those patients who are most likely to benefit and partnering with social services providers to address patients' nonclinical needs.

"Complex care" used to narrowly refer to medical complexity, but our understanding has evolved to encompass a far richer understanding of people with a range of physical, mental, and behavioral health care needs and the challenges they face. A new series on the Better Care Playbook is exploring this new definition and how it compares to real patient experiences.

Join a July 12 webinar from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, E.T., to hear from KPMG and the Commonwealth Fund about a new guide to help health care organizations develop the business case for investing in social services and obtain measurable returns on investment.  Register for the webinar.

This issue's roundup of health policy news from around the world looks at Australia's expanded role for community pharmacists, France's national implementation of electronic patient medical records, and more.

2017 is a prime number, but that’s certainly not the only thing that made last year unique. Read the Commonwealth Fund’s new annual report, “The Year in Numbers,” for highlights from our recent work. Also read Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D.’s essay about the Fund’s century of advancing health care for all.