Brief Argues Medicaid Patients Denied their Right to Choose their Own Healthcare Provider Can Sue in Court
Washington, D.C. – Today, former senior officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services filed a friend-of-the court brief, defending the right of a Planned Parenthood patient to choose to obtain care from Planned Parenthood through the Medicaid program. The United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case, Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, on April 2, 2025.
The former HHS senior officials filing this brief are former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretaries Xavier Becerra, 2021-2025, Kathleen Sebelius, 2009-2014, and Donna Shalala, 1993-2001; Donald Berwick, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2010-2011; Nancy-Ann DeParle, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 1997-2000; Margaret Dotzel, Acting General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011-2017; Renee Landers, Deputy General Counsel of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996-1997; Cindy Mann, Deputy Administrator of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Director, Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, 2009-2015; William Schultz, Acting General Counsel and General Counsel of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011-2016; and Bruce C. Vladeck, Administrator of Health Care Financing Administration, 1993-1997.
“More Americans have health insurance through Medicaid than any other plan. It’s a life saver for millions of working families,” said Xavier Becerra, former Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. “Medicaid gives Americans a choice of doctors and providers. When a state arbitrarily tries to take away that choice, Americans should have the right to go to court to protect their Medicaid.
The case revolves around South Carolina Governor McMaster’s 2018 executive order, directing the South Carolina Health and Human Services Department to remove abortion clinics from the state’s Medicaid provider list, cutting off access for patients on Medicaid to the critical services provided by Planned Parenthood health clinics in the state.
South Carolina’s move directly contradicts the “free-choice-of-provider provision” of the Medicaid Act, which guarantees that Medicaid patients, like plaintiff Julie Edwards, have the right to choose their own healthcare provider. Congress has reiterated that Medicaid patients retain that right for family planning services, even in managed care programs.
Across the country, including in South Carolina, Planned Parenthood health centers are a critical safety net provider, particularly for rural and lower-income communities. They provide essential, preventive reproductive healthcare, like birth control, cancer screenings, wellness exams, STI testing and treatment, and more. Medicaid funding cannot be used for abortion except in cases when a pregnant woman’s life is at risk or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. Therefore, the attempt by South Carolina to remove the health care provider from Medicaid has nothing to do with abortion and in reality, is seeking to block access to basic preventive services and family planning care.
In their brief, the former HHS senior officials draw on their extensive experience overseeing the Medicaid program to argue:
“Perhaps no right is more individual or personal than a patient’s choice of their own qualified doctor. Individual private enforcement of the free-choice-of-provider right is what Congress has long intended to ensure that individuals like Ms. Edwards can obtain care from the doctor of their choosing.”
“Extreme political agendas have no place in healthcare and shouldn’t stand in the way of patients’ right to choose a medical professional they trust – including Planned Parenthood,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, and counsel of record. “Planned Parenthood health centers are an irreplaceable part of our healthcare system, ensuring that every patient – no matter their zip code or income – has access to affordable, science-based care. Allowing South Carolina to strip Medicaid funding from these centers would shatter nearly sixty years of precedent and needlessly put health and lives at risk.”
“Since its inception, the central purpose of the Medicaid program has been to provide access to affordable health care for those in need. That access has always come with the right for patients to choose their health care provider,” said Stephen Vladeck, co-counsel representing the amici. “Congress concluded 60 years ago that a patient’s autonomy to choose a provider they feel comfortable with and who is qualified to provide them with the medical care they need is vital to the success of Medicaid. Blocking Medicaid patients from receiving family planning care at Planned Parenthood health centers is a clear violation of this right under the Medicaid Act, one that Congress would never have meant to be enforceable only by the federal government.”
The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina originally ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, issuing a preliminary injunction followed by final judgment that prevented South Carolina from cutting off Medicaid funding. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in Planned Parenthood’s favor in three separate appeals over the course of this case. Despite that, South Carolina appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, who agreed in December to hear oral argument in the case next month.
The court’s decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, expected later this year, threatens to impact access to health care across the United States and the ability of Medicaid patients to rely on the critical “free-choice-of-provider” right.
The amicus brief filed today is available here.
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