The daily business briefing: July 9, 2019

A judge blocks Trump rule requiring drug prices in TV ads, 23 governors back California challenge of Trump mileage freeze, and more

Drivers in California
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1. Judge blocks Trump administration rule requiring drug prices in TV ads

A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose drug prices in television ads. Drug makers Merck, Eli Lilly, and Amgen sued the administration, saying the Department of Health and Human Services did not have the authority to impose the rule, which was about to take effect Tuesday. The companies said the administration's new rule would have violated their right to free speech. They have argued that list prices don't reflect what most patients pay, anyway, because insurers negotiate discounts. When the proposed rule was finalized in May, HHS Secretary Alex Azar called it "the single most significant step any administration has taken toward a simple commitment: American patients deserve to know the prices of the health care they receive."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.