January 22, 2015 — The ADA and other health professional associations have filed a friend-of-the-court “amicus” brief with the U.S. Supreme Court regarding an upcoming case, Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc., that asserts the right to sue the government to enforce federal Medicaid law in the states, according to an ADA News story.
The U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause gives providers “a private right of action” to sue, the ADA and the associations assert in the brief. Medicaid’s “equal access” provision requires that states that accept federal Medicaid funds must set provider reimbursement rates that are “sufficient to enlist enough providers so that care and services are available under the plan at least to the extent that such care and services are available to the general population in the geographic area.” In states such as California, reimbursement rates are low, and practitioners’ organizations are actively looking to force government to raise the rates.
The issue before the Supreme Court is whether the Supremacy Clause gives Medicaid providers a private right of action to enforce the “equal access” mandate against a state where Congress chose not to create enforceable rights under that statute, according to the story.
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