Florida
Judge strikes down ban on Medicaid funding for transgender treatment
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday struck down Florida rules championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis restricting Medicaid coverage for gender dysphoria treatments for potentially thousands of transgender people.
“Gender identity is real” and the state has admitted it, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle wrote in a 54-page ruling.
He said a Florida health code rule and a new state law violated federal laws on Medicaid, equal protection and the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition of sex discrimination.
They are “invalid to the extent they categorically ban Medicaid payment for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the treatment of gender dysphoria,” Hinkle wrote.
The judge said Florida had chosen to block payment for some treatments “for political reasons” using a biased and unscientific process and that “pushing individuals away from their transgender identity is not a legitimate state interest.”
An email seeking comment from the DeSantis’ office wasn’t immediately returned.
Hinkle’s harsh language echoed that in his ruling two weeks ago over a law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers. Hinkle, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, issued a preliminary injunction so that three children could continue receiving treatment.
The DeSantis administration and the Republican-controlled Legislature had banned gender-affirming treatments for children and a law that DeSantis signed in May made it difficult — even impossible —for many transgender adults to get treatment.
The latest ruling involved a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of two adults and two minors, but advocacy groups estimate that some 9,000 transgender people in Florida use Medicaid to fund their treatments.
Hinkle also addressed the issue of whether gender-affirming treatments were medically necessary and noted that transgender people have higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicide than the general population.
Transgender medical care for minors is increasingly under attack — Florida is among 19 states that have enacted laws restricting or banning treatment. But it has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.
Gender issues in general have increasingly become culture war flashpoints in the United States, ranging from brawls over the celebration of Pride Month to attempts to bar transgender youths from taking part in women’s sports.
Missouri
Teenage volleyball player who lost legs in accident sues drivers, city
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A teenage volleyball player from Tennessee is suing the Missouri city of St. Louis and two drivers who struck her in February, causing her to lose both legs.
The lawsuit on behalf of Janae Edmondson was filed Tuesday. The driver allegedly responsible for the wreck, Daniel Riley, was out on bond on a robbery charge despite several violations of his bond. The accident resulted in outrage against Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner amid concerns that dysfunction in her office allowed Riley to remain free. Gardner resigned in May as Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey was seeking her ouster.
Gardner was not named in the lawsuit but her attorney, Kevin Carnie, said they were “weighing the possibility,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Edmondson, then a high school senior, was in St. Louis for a volleyball tournament on Feb. 18. She was with her parents crossing an intersection when a speeding car driven by Riley collided with another car driven by a woman. Edmondson was pinned between the two vehicles.
Edmondson “had her bright future brutally ripped away,” the lawsuit states, calling the crash “completely preventable.”
The lawsuit seeks damages of more than $25,000 from Riley, his mother, the city and the driver of the other vehicle. The suit says Riley’s mother allowed him to borrow her car despite his “habitual recklessness.” It says the driver of the other car should be held liable because she, too, was driving without a valid license.
The lawsuit blames the city for failing to maintain a safe intersection, citing a yield sign that the lawsuit claims was inadequate because buildings blocked the view of oncoming traffic.
A city spokesman declined comment.
Riley remains jailed as he awaits trial in his criminal case.
Colorado
MLB sued by 17 former scouts who claim age discrimination
DENVER (AP) — Seventeen former Major League Baseball scouts who say they were discriminated against because of their age sued the league, its teams and Commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver. The former scouts allege violations of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 along with laws in 11 states and New York City.
The scouts, ranging from 55 to 71, allege they were discriminated against from 2020-22. They say MLB and the teams “have acted to prevent the reemployment of older scouts or refused the reemployment of older scouts.”
They also say an MLB provision that offsets scouts’ salaries when they sign with a new team — but are still being paid by a previous team from which they’ve been fired — is discriminatory.
MLB said in a statement it looks “forward to refuting these claims in court,” but it does not comment on pending litigation.
The ex-scouts also allege MLB in 2015 ended a listing of scouts eligible for employment, the decision to end the MLB Scouting Bureau in 2018 was discriminatory and MLB used analytics and the coronavirus pandemic as pretexts to eliminate older scouts.
“This lawsuit is about age discrimination within a sport that supposedly values history, tradition and putting the best possible product on the field,” lawyer Mitchell C. Abeita of Kilgore & Kilgore said in a statement.
The plaintiffs are headed by former Chicago Cubs scout James S. Benedict, who was terminated in 2020. They seek class-action certification.
The former scouts allege violations of laws in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Utah.
Washington
Drugmaker lobbying group sues over plan to manage Medicare drug prices
A key drugmaker lobbying group has joined the legal fight against the federal government’s plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, is suing over plans laid out in the Inflation Reduction Act to give the federal coverage program more control over its pharmaceutical costs.
PhRMA said in a federal court complaint filed Wednesday that the act forces drugmakers to agree to a “government-dictated price” under the threat of a heavy tax. The complaint said Congress delegated too much authority to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to set prices.
It also says the program violates the due process clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment “by exempting key decisions from public input and insulating them from administrative or judicial review.”
The lawsuit names HHS and its secretary, Xavier Becerra, as defendants. It also names Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
An HHS spokeswoman said the department plans to “vigorously defend” the law.
The National Infusion Center Association and the Global Colon Cancer Association joined PhRMA in the complaint.
Earlier this month, the drugmakers Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb also sued over the plan.
Medicare is the federally funded coverage program mainly for people who are age 65 and older. The Inflation Reduction Act’s plan marks the first time that the federal government will bargain directly with drug companies over the price for some of Medicare’s costliest drugs.
The government is expected to soon release rules for negotiating drug prices. It will then publish in September a list of 10 drugs that it will start price negotiations on next year.
Those prices won’t take hold until 2026.
Iowa
Governor settles open records lawsuit filed by media groups
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by journalists and open government advocates who sought to require her office to respond to public record requests, and a state panel agreed Wednesday to pay more than $100,000 in attorney fees.
Reynolds settled the lawsuit about two months after the Iowa Supreme Court refused to dismiss the case filed by two media organizations and a nonprofit advocacy group. The court unanimously rejected the governor’s argument that her office wasn’t required to respond in a timely manner to record requests and that she could bypass the state’s open records law by simply ignoring the requests.
The organizations filed the lawsuit in 2021, claiming the governor had violated Iowa’s open records law by ignoring government record requests. The reporters had emailed the governor’s office with eight different open-record requests between April 2020 and April 2021 and renewed each request at least once. In each case, they received no response until filing a lawsuit in December 2021.
In a statement, the governor’s office acknowledged the settlement but said problems stemmed from demands during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The COVID-19 response put unprecedented demands on the governor’s team to meet the immediate needs of Iowans,” Kollin Crompton, the governor’s deputy communications director, said in a statement. “As a result, responses to requests were unintentionally delayed, which is not acceptable. Our office has assessed our internal processes and we continue to reevaluate the process to improve timeliness.”
Earlier Wednesday, the State Appeal Board approved $135,000 to cover legal fees for the organizations, though the one Democrat on the three-member board objected.
Auditor Rob Sand said state law intends that those who violate the open records law should pay fees related to the violation and a fine. The settlement, he noted, pays the fees with public money and doesn’t include a fine.
“These insiders have no shame,” Sand said in a statement. “They abuse your rights, and then want to use your money to pay for having abused you.”
The organization are the liberal-leaning Bleeding Heartland blog, Iowa Capital Dispatch and Iowa Freedom of Information Council, which focuses on open government issues.
The ACLU of Iowa, which represented the organizations, said the settlement will be official later this month when the court accepts the agreement. The ACLU said the agreement also required a year of judicial oversight over the governor’s office’s compliance with the state open records law as well as court fees.
The governor also settled separate lawsuits filed by an attorney who sued after not receiving records about COVID-19 testing contracts. The State Appeal Board approved about $40,000 to settle that case.
