Supreme Court ruling blocks Medicaid lawsuits

The U.S. Supreme Court narrowly ruled Tuesday that health-care providers cannot sue states in order to bump up Medicaid reimbursement rates they say are unlawfully low (Source: “Supreme Court says state Medicaid payments not open to private lawsuits,” Washington Post, March 31, 2015).

The justices ruled 5-4 that neither the Constitution nor federal law authorizes doctors and other health-care providers to go to court to enforce the law’s directive that the reimbursement rates set by states be “sufficient to enlist enough providers so that care and services are available” to Medicaid recipients just as they are to the general population.

The justices said that it's up to the federal agencies that oversee Medicaid to decide whether a state is in compliance with reimbursement rules.