Court of Appeals Rejects Maine’s Medicaid Lawsuit - Sept. 18, 2012

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals denied on Sept. 13 Maine’s request for an immediate decision from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on proposed cuts to Maine’s Medicaid program. The cuts include scaling back eligibility for the program. Maine officials had asked the court to have CMS consider or respond to their Medicaid program state plan amendment by Oct. 1 in order for the state to balance its budget. Maine, in part, argued that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) maintenance-of-effort requirement – which would prohibit Maine’s request to scale back – is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s June ACA decision. The Court of Appeals noted that Maine’s request is premature, as CMS has until Nov. 1, by statute, to consider the request.