Medicaid recipients can sue a state for cutting their preferred medical provider out of its program, a Planned Parenthood affiliate said in its final brief to the US Supreme Court before oral arguments.
The Medicaid Act’s “free-choice-of-provider” section clearly gives recipients a right that’s enforceable through a lawsuit filed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the group and a patient said Wednesday. They urged the top court to decide that Medicaid patients, not just the federal government, can take action against a state for allegedly violating that right. Oral argument is scheduled for April 2.
Medicaid is a joint state-federal program ...