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Activists see Anthony Kennedy retirement as chance to upend abortion law. Anti-abortion groups are hailing the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to overturn major abortion rights rulings — and possibly even Roe v. Wade. Kennedy was the deciding vote on major abortion rights rulings for decades, including the pivotal 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey that upheld Roe and said a state couldn’t create an “undue burden” on a woman seeking an abortion. Anti-abortion groups who have spent 45 years fighting to get Roe overturned believe Kennedy’s retirement is a chance to overturn those rulings, giving lawmakers in each state leeway to place restrictions on abortion. “Justice Kennedy’s retirement from the Supreme Court marks a pivotal moment for the fight to ensure every unborn child is welcomed and protected under the law,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List. The anti-abortion group Students for Life of America also chided Kennedy’s decision in Casey, which was upheld by the court last year. “In cases like Planned Parenthood v. Casey, he did not address the most critical issues and allowed for a swamp of mismatched abortion laws that permit the abortion industry to continue to operate in ways that harm women as well as preborn children,” said President Kristan Hawkins. “We expect that President Trump will live up to his promises and appoint a justice in the tradition of Justice Antonin Scalia who respects the law as written.” But a number of legal experts caution that the court may not go as far overturning the ruling. Justices, if anything, may decide to take incremental steps to chip away at Roe without formally overturning it. All eyes would be on Chief Justice John Roberts as potentially the new swing justice on the court. In siding with liberals to uphold Obamacare, Roberts displayed a reticence to issue a ruling striking down a major act of Congress, and it’s possible a similar reluctance could dissuade him from triggering a political earthquake by overturning Roe.

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Susan Collins calls on DOJ to reverse stance on pre-existing illnesses. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who has voted against measures to repeal Obamacare, is urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reverse its decision asking the courts to gut protections from people with pre-existing illnesses. “This is no small matter … 57 percent of Americans responding to a poll said that they or someone in their household suffers from a pre-existing condition,” she wrote in a letter. Collins asked Sessions to “reconsider your position and to defend these critical protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions like asthma, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.”

Federal watchdogs to review HHS’ treatment of unaccompanied minors. A federal watchdog has agreed to review the Department of Health and Human Services’ program for caring for unaccompanied minors after a request from Democrats. HHS’ Office of the Inspector General will specifically look at how the agency’s Office of Refugee Resettlement has responded to family separations as a result of President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy. Trump signed an executive order last week to end family separations at the border. Now Democrats are worried about how HHS is reunifying children separated under the policy. HHS officials said Tuesday that 2,047 children need to be reunited with a family member or friend. The Government Accountability Office also agreed to a request from Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., to evaluate how the Trump administration is tracking children separated under the policy and how HHS is reuniting them.

Amazon enters the pharmacy business amid federal push to lower drug costs. Amazon is set to make its first major foray into the pharmacy business as Washington sets its sights on lowering drug prices. The e-commerce giant announced Thursday that it would acquire PillPack, a delivery company that provides pre-sorted medications and drug refills, for an undisclosed price. The move comes as the Trump administration and Congress are considering sweeping new measures that could affect both pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers, who serve as middlemen between the drug manufacturers and the insurance companies. Amazon has long been rumored to be interested in the pharmacy business, and the announcement comes as the industry is in the midst of a major upheaval. CVS Health is awaiting federal approval for its proposed $69 billion merger with insurer Aetna. Rite Aid is also trying to convince shareholders to approve its merger with grocery store chain Albertsons.

Senate panel advances key funding bill for opioids, research. The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a 2019 fiscal funding bill for the Health and Human Services Department that contains nearly $4 billion to fight the opioid crisis and a $2 billion boost for the National Institutes of Health. The $179 billion appropriations bill, which advanced by a vote of 30-1 on Thursday, now heads to the Senate floor. It also includes funding for the Department of Labor and Department of Education. The bill contains $3.7 billion to fight the opioid crisis and $3.4 billion, an increase of $195 million over current levels, for mental health treatment, prevention, and research.

Trump administration denies Massachusetts’ bid to control drug costs. The Trump administration shot down Massachusetts’ request to try to rein in high drug costs by restricting coverage of certain drugs under Medicaid. Massachusetts would have been the first state to experiment with creating a closed formulary, or list of approved drugs, if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had approved it. But the agency said the state would have to forgo all manufacturer rebates under the plan, and the state had wanted to continue receiving them. “We appreciate Massachusetts’ efforts to tackle skyrocketing drug prices and look forward to working with the commonwealth to meet its goals of effectively managing its Medicaid pharmacy benefit,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said Wednesday. Under the state’s application filed in September, Massachusetts wanted to block Medicaid coverage of drugs if there was limited evidence they were effective. Typically, a state Medicaid program has to cover every drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration. But high-cost specialty drugs have put states in a financial bind. Massachusetts for instance, has seen drug spending on its Medicaid program double from $1.1 billion to $2.2 billion over the past five years.

Bernie Sanders: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s win signals liberal values, including on healthcare, ‘will resonate’ in November. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Wednesday celebrated New York Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s surprise primary win over Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., saying her liberal, social democrat ideals “will resonate all over this country” ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. “I think what it should tell the American people is that when you have candidates like Alexandria, who have the guts to talk about the real issues impacting people’s lives,” Sanders said. He started an interview on MSNBC referring to Ocasio-Cortez’s policy platform and what it means for the 2018 election cycle. “She campaigned on healthcare as a right, not a privilege, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, demanding the wealthiest start paying their fair share of taxes, making public colleges and universities tuition-free — that is an agenda that will resonate all over this country.”

D.C. about to become latest to create own individual mandate. The District of Columbia’s city council passed an individual mandate on Wednesday. If D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signs it, D.C. would join three states — New Jersey, Vermont and Massachusetts — in imposing an individual mandate that everyone have health insurance. The mandate, passed by the council as part of a budget bill, would go into effect in 2019. Under the bill, money from the penalty for not having insurance would go to a fund that would boost outreach for insurance coverage. The moves by D.C. and other localities come as the federal individual mandate penalty under Obamacare will be zeroed out in 2019. Insurers are worried that they will have to raise prices on Obamacare’s exchanges next year because the mandate was an incentive for younger and healthier people to sign up for insurance. Several states have already seen insurers propose double-digit price hikes for 2019, blaming the loss of the mandate.

RUNDOWN

Wall Street Journal Trump’s VA pick stresses ‘customer service’

Washington Post Students sue University of Notre Dame for restricting access to some birth control

Associated Press Arizona court: Hashish not included in medical marijuana law

STAT News Psychiatrists call for rollback of policy banning discussion of public figures’ mental health

Politico House GOP closes ranks on abortion

CNBC Insurance startup launches on-demand health coverage