Republican Senators Urge Administration to Take Stronger Action on Foreign Drug Prices

Senate Republicans have requested for the Trump administration to leverage Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to open a probe into drug pricing. The June 16 letter follows a previous one sent by House Republicans earlier this month. The 23 Senators behind the letter claim that Germany and other trade partners in the European Union have unfairly disadvantaged the United States with drug-pricing policies, limiting export opportunities and potentially adding financial strain for the country’s drug research and development.

In April, Germany announced a healthcare reform plan that would require drug companies to provide discounts depending on their spending on drugs and healthcare revenues. This was later revised to include fixed discounts. In the June 16 letter, Senators urged the Trump administration to orchestrate deals similar to the country’s agreement with the United Kingdom, where the United Kingdom will raise the net price that its health system pays for new drugs by 25% in exchange for prospective tariff exemptions on drugs. Foreign drug pricing has remained an interest of the current administration, with efforts to sustain a most-favored-nation policy that could potentially include tariffs (Inside Health Policy, June 18).

HHS Announces Over Two Dozen New Behavioral Health Funding Opportunities

On June 17, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. announced a series of funding opportunities in alignment with President Trump’s EO 14379, which established the Great American Recover Initiative to address the nation’s mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) crises. The funding opportunities span across improvements of community-based treatments, rural health programs, crisis response services, and tribal and youth-focused initiatives, including:

• $96M for the Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Support (STREETS) Program to develop a collaborative community-based care system for unhoused individuals who have SUDs) serious mental illnesses (SMI) or co-occurring disorders. Funding for the STREETS program is drawn from four previous Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grants.
• $223.1M to sustain existing Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) and support the establishment of new clinics to serve underserved populations.
• $238.6M to support Local 988 and Suicide Crisis Lifeline and service improvements for high-risk populations.
• $80M to support rural emergency medical services and expansion of treatment options for individuals, youth, and families affected by SUDs.
• Over $70M to expand support to American Indian and Alaska Native communities through comprehensive community-based mental health services and programs addressing the needs of at-risk youth.

Several of the highly anticipated grants were excluded from this release, including the Mental Health Awareness Training and Mental Health First Aid grant, Emergency Department Alternatives to Opioids, and the Assertive Community Treatment grant. The HHS has not yet provided comments on the delay or possible omission (HHS, June 17; Inside Health Policy, June 18; Inside Health Policy, June 18).

MedPAC Releases June Report to Congress

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its annual report to Congress on June 15, detailing potential improvements to Medicare and changes in the healthcare system that impact the program. In the June 2026 report to Congress, MedPAC details how payment incentive programs could be improved in both fee-for-service, alternative payment models, and managed care and addresses the complex coverage choices available to Medicare beneficiaries during their initial and subsequent enrollment periods and the resources available to assist in the process. The report also examines the current processes in place to identify and reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in provider payments and analyzes changes in Medicare Advantage enrollment and their association with the financial health of various healthcare providers, including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities. In addition, it presents options to improve the accuracy of hospice payments and access to certain complex palliative services for hospice beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease or cancer. Finally, MedPAC was required to report on the Medicare Ground Ambulance Data Collection System (MedPAC, June 15).

Hospitals Push HHS and Congress to Intervene After Eli Lilly Cuts Off 340B Discounts

Hospitals are urging Congress and HHS to intervene after Eli Lilly cut off 340B pricing on June 18 for certain Disproportionate Share Hospitals and other covered entities that did not comply with the company’s claims data submission policy. The policy, launched on February 1 and enforced after a June 8 compliance deadline, requires covered entities to submit claims data each time a Lilly drug is dispensed at 340B pricing. Lilly said the requirement is intended to prevent duplicate discounts and diversion, and told HRSA that 2,350 covered entities, or 70% of entities purchasing Lilly drugs, had begun complying. Hospital groups, including the American Hospital Association (AHA), 340B Health, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), argue Lilly does not have authority under the 340B statute to condition discounts on claims data and say impacted hospitals may now have to buy Lilly drugs at wholesale acquisition cost instead of discounted 340B prices. ASHP also said Lilly’s policy conflicts with laws in 11 states that prohibit conditioning 340B discounts on claims data.

AHA is calling on Congress to use its oversight authority to press HHS to take a position, while stakeholders warned the dispute could have broader implications because several other drugmakers, including Exelixis, Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Biogen, have launched or are preparing similar claims data policies. HRSA has not publicly indicated whether it will intervene (Inside Health Policy, June 18; Healthcare Dive, June 22).

DOJ Memo Raises Concerns Over Disability Community Living Protections

A new Justice Department legal opinion could limit federal enforcement of protections that have allowed people with disabilities to receive services in their homes and communities rather than in institutions. The Office of Legal Counsel memo argues that federal disability law prohibits discrimination but does not require states to provide home and community-based services, a major shift from decades of federal interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. decision. Disability advocates and legal experts said the memo threatens longstanding protections requiring services to be provided in the most integrated setting appropriate, while acknowledging that its view is “out of step” with how federal courts have commonly understood Olmstead.

Advocates warned the change could give states more room to cut community-based supports, particularly as Medicaid remains the primary funding source for these services and states face new fiscal pressure following Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. By 2023, 8.4 million Americans were receiving Medicaid home- and community-based services. Legal experts emphasized that the DOJ memo does not change the law by itself but said it could signal a sharp rollback in federal enforcement of Olmstead protections (NPR, June 20).