NAPH, Other Provider Groups File Amicus Brief in California Medicaid Case - August 9, 2011

NAPH on Aug. 5, along with nine other provider organizations, filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in three consolidated cases involving a proposed 10 percent reduction in California Medicaid payments to health care providers. The brief filed supports providers and beneficiaries, who successfully argued in lower courts that California’s rate cut violates federal Medicaid law. The sole issue before the Supreme Court is whether health care providers may use the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution to challenge rate reductions that violate the federal Medicaid statute. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the cases on Oct. 3. NAPH and other hospital groups support the providers’ ability to sue, noting that such lawsuits ensure “the Medicaid Act is not undermined or subverted by conflicting state law, and that the Medicaid program serves Congress’s purpose of providing meaningful benefits to Medicaid recipients.” A decision in the cases is expected in early 2012.