In amicus brief—led by Sens. Schumer, Murray, Wyden, and Reps. Jeffries, Clark, Pallone, DeGette, and Pressley—entire Senate Democratic caucus and 191 House Democrats underscore that Congress enacted the “free-choice-of-provider” provision in the Medicaid statute to ensure beneficiaries have the right to choose among any qualified health care provider that agrees to participate in the Medicaid program—and that beneficiaries can enforce that right in court.
Members: “Congress intentionally established Medicaid beneficiaries’ right to receive healthcare services from the provider of their choice when it enacted the free-choice-of-provider provision nearly sixty years ago. That promise to Medicaid beneficiaries should be honored.”
Washington, D.C. — Today, 238 Members of Congress—led by U.S. Senators Schumer, Murray, and Wyden, and U.S. Representatives Jeffries, Clark, Pallone, DeGette and Pressley—submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) in Medina v. Planned Parenthood of South Atlantic, a case challenging South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster’s efforts to block participants in the state’s Medicaid program from accessing health care at the Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) affiliate’s health centers. The case is centered around whether individuals can privately enforce the “free-choice-of-provider provision” in the Medicaid statute, which gives Medicaid beneficiaries the right to choose among any qualified health care provider that agrees to participate in Medicaid. The case is evidence of the anti-abortion movement’s agenda to defund Planned Parenthood and threaten providers that offer reproductive health care services, undermining access to health care. A loss at the Supreme Court would pave the way for states to arbitrarily exclude Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program and deny tens of millions of Americans the ability to receive comprehensive, essential health care from the provider of their choosing.
In their amicus brief, the Members argue that the plain text of the Medicaid statute and legislative history make clear that Congress enacted the free-choice-of-provider provision to provide any individual eligible for Medicaid with the right to choose among qualified health care and Congress has provided beneficiaries the ability to enforce that right in court. “The right to select one’s own healthcare provider has been a core promise of the program ever since. And for decades, Congress has approved of—indeed, relied on—private enforcement in federal court as a critical means of protecting that right,” the Members wrote.
“Tens of millions of Americans, including Amici’s constituents, rely on the right to choose among qualified healthcare providers. In 2023, 19 percent of all women ages 19-64 and 22 percent of all women ages 15-49 relied on Medicaid,” the Members wrote in their amicus brief to the Supreme Court. “This makes it all the more important that beneficiaries can avail themselves of federal courts to prevent states from excluding providers based on factors entirely unrelated to competence or program integrity.When states deny beneficiaries’ choice of a qualified Medicaid provider, Amici’s constituents suffer. Medicaid beneficiaries often simultaneously receive a range of vital healthcare services in a single visit… Limiting Medicaid beneficiaries’ access to healthcare providers who specialize in women’s health care—merely because they separately provide abortion services—limits their access to all healthcare and erects false barriers to care.”
“Private enforcement enables Medicaid beneficiaries to hold states accountable when they accept federal taxpayer money while violating beneficiaries’ right to choose the providers on whom that money is spent,” the Members continued. “Without such individual enforcement, vital healthcare facilities shutter, leaving our least resourced without access to affordable or accessible healthcare. As occurred in Texas, when states arbitrarily limit beneficiaries’ choice of providers, beneficiaries lose access to preventative care and face costly—and even deadly—longterm medical consequences.”
Planned Parenthood health centers are a critical health care access point for people across the country, providing a range of services including wellness exams, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, contraception and more. One in five women of reproductive age are covered by Medicaid and nearly half of Planned Parenthood’s patients rely on Medicaid for health coverage. Close to 70 percent of Planned Parenthood’s health centers are located in communities with a shortage of primary care services and unmet health care needs.
In their brief, the Democratic members also counter an argument made in the amicus brief from GOP members of Congress that the private right of action would be financially ruinous to Medicaid, by explaining that, in the decades over which the free-choice-of-provider provision has been privately enforced, the financial calamity the GOP members predict has not come to pass, and tens of millions of patients continue to receive affordable Medicaid coverage.
“Congress intentionally established Medicaid beneficiaries’ right to receive healthcare services from the provider of their choice when it enacted the free-choice-of-provider provision nearly sixty years ago. That promise to Medicaid beneficiaries should be honored,” the lawmakers concluded, asking the Supreme Court to affirm the Fourth Circuit’s decision that Medicaid beneficiaries have the right to choose their own qualified provider.
In the Senate, the amicus brief was signed by the entire Democratic caucus: U.S. Senators Schumer, Murray, Wyden, Alsobrooks, Baldwin, Bennet, Blumenthal, Blunt Rochester, Booker, Cantwell, Coons, Cortez Masto, Duckworth, Durbin, Fetterman, Gallego, Gillibrand, Hassan, Heinrich, Hickenlooper, Hirono, Kaine, Kelly, Kim, King, Klobuchar, Luján, Markey, Merkley, Murphy, Ossoff, Padilla, Peters, Reed, Rosen, Sanders, Schatz, Schiff, Shaheen, Slotkin, Smith, Van Hollen, Warner, Warnock, Warren, Welch, and Whitehouse.
In the House, the brief was signed by 191 U.S. Representatives.
The lawmakers’ amicus brief to the Supreme Court can be read in full HERE.
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